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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, No. 44 



MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA 



CHARLES K. EDMUNDS 

PRESIDENT OF CAhJTON CHRISTIAN COLLECE 
CANTON. CHINA 




WASHLNGTON 

GOV'ERNMENT PRIN TLNG OFFICE 

1919 



r 




Glass_ XivIiAi 
Book L. S "^ 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, No. 44 






MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA 



By 

CHARLES K. EDMUNDS 

PRESIDENT OF CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE 
CANTON, CHINA 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

19)9 



/ 



,1^ 



ADDITIOXAL COPIF.S 

OF THIS PUBLICATION M \.Y BE PROCUREU FROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, Li. C. 

AT 

20 CENTS PER COPY 



o; of :^. 



•3— 

/^ CONTENTS. 

d 

Introduction 

I. The change from the old to the new 

The simultaneous development of representative government 

and general education 

The Government's first steps, 1SG2-1897 

Educational history and foreign conflicts 

Phases of the constructive period 

Phases of the reorganization 

II. The present status of Government etlucation 

Curricula 

Problems being solved 

Development of moral character 

School discipline ■ 

Adjustment of education to life needs 

Supply of teachers 

Unsolved problems 

Finance 

Universal education 

Government attitude toward missionary education 

School fees 

Degrees 

Students abroad 

Education of women 

III. Educational needs affected by internal condition and international 

situation 

Engineering . : . 

Agriculture : — 

Medicine 

IV. Causes of backwardness 

Absence of the inductive method 

Spirit of inacx-uracy : 

Five other causes 

Outlook 

Contradictory characteristics 

y. Mission schools 

The opportunity to serve China 

Progress of missionary occupation 

Statistics of mission schools 

The system of Christian education 

Appendix A. — Canton Christian College 

Appendix B. — Peking Union Medical College 

Appendix C. — Missionary education in China 

Appendix D. — China's educational progress 

3 



Paga. 



8 
10 
11 
1-1 
15 
IG 
IS 
IS 
19 
19 
20 
22 
22 
2-1 

2.3 

27 
28 
28 
30 

31 
34 

35 
37 
41 
41 
42 
45 
45 
47 
49 
49 
49 
50 
51 
5o 
63 
64 
65 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Paget 
I'late 1. General view of buildings of the College of tlie White Deer 

Grotto 16 

2. -!. Lookout tower in the midst of the examination halls at Nan- 

king ; B, Main corridor of the examination halls, Canton 17 

3. .4, Image of Confucius in the College of the White Deer Grotto; 

B. Examination stalls at Nanking 16 

4. Court T)f the Confucian Hall of Classics, Peking 17 

5. -i. Little nurses carrying baby brothers ; B, Street scene in 

Hongkong 32 

G. J, Class in arithmetic, in the Methodist Mission, Chin Kiang; 

B, Entrance to Provincial Bureau of Education. Canton 33 

7. A page from a modern Chinese primer 32 

8. Provincial College, Tsinan, Shantung. A, Entrance to grounds ; 

B, Reception Hall 33 

9. ^i. Government Institute of Technology, Shanghai : B, Modern 

normal school on the site of ancient examination halls, Canton_ 48 

10. Canton Christian College. A, Students of college grade ; B, Girls 

i»f the secondary school 49 

11. < 'anton Christian College. -1, Panorama from the river ; Z?, 

Grant Hall 48 

12. Canton Christian College. A, Class in animal husbandry; B, 

Secondary school students before JIartin Hall 49 

4 



MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Amerieans often ask : " How do you find the Chinese students ? 
How do they compare with American students? " My answer, after 
15 years in China, is that the distinction between the oriental and 
the occidental lies in technique and in knowledge, not in intellectual 
caliber. While there are differences in point of view and in method 
of approach, there is no fundamental difference in intellectual char- 
acter. The Chinese conception of life's values is so different from 
that of western peoples tliat they have failed to develop modern 
technique and scientific knowledge. Xow that they have come to 
see the value of these, rapid and fundamental changes are taking 
place. When modern scientific knowledge is added to the skill 
Avhicli the Chinese already have in agriculture, commerce, industry, 
government, and military affairs, results will be achieved which will 
astonish the western world. 

Religion, government, and reverence for antiquity have been the 
dominant influences in shaping the course of Chinese education. 
Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and for the last century Christian- 
ity have directly and considerably influenced the development of the 
educational system. Unfamiliarity with the law of progress has led 
to undue respect for the ancient sages and has prevented radical re- 
forms until they Avere imposed by the necessities of modern inter- 
course with the rest of the world. While the Chinese have been 
liighly conservative, and their educational system has reflected this, 
their conservatism has its limits. Slow in making a departure, once 
the truth strikes home and its practicability is demonstrated, they 
do not hesitate at radical changes, nor are they discouraged by diffi- 
culties and obstructions. 

The policy of providing modern education upon a national basis 
was adopted only a few j^ears ago. When due allowance is made for 
this fact, China compares favorably in its educational history with 
the western world. 

Though late in introducing reforms, China has always regarded 
education as of supreme importance. The change is not in the 
spirit, but in the character of the learning whicli that spirit admires. 

5 



6 IXTRODUCTI^. 

Formerly clierishing solely tlie literary and ethical excellencies of 
ancient Chinese classics, she now extends her admiration to the 
practical realities and usefulness of western science, because in them 
she recognizes the instruments for the realization of new national 
and economic ideals. 

Fortunately the people of China have long been democratic in 
spirit and so has been their educational system. To develop the 
individual into a man of virtue and culture and to secure social 
control through raising up leaders with ability and character to 
influence the lives of others have been the main motives of Chinese 
education throughout many centuries, and may well continue even 
with altered content of the curricula. For China today is more in 
need of true men than she is of merely modern methods. 



I. THE CHANGE FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW. 

The ancient system of education and its content have often been 
fully described. The gradual decadence of the schools themselves 
and the growth of the system of literary examinations as the means 
of providing candidates for government positions, followed in more 
recent times by modifications in the subject matter of the examina- 
tions and finally by the abolition of the examination system in toto — 
these fill the period from the really old to the really new education in 
China. 

The last stages of this long period have been three, the changes 
becoming more and more rapid as we approach the present, the 
changes in education being concurrent with fundamental alterations 
in the political life of the nation. The transition from traditional 
to modern education began with the forced opening of the first five 
ports to foreign trade in 1842 and ended with the abolition of the 
ancient system of literary examinations in 1905. From 1905 to 1911 
marks the construction period in which a modern educational system 
was actually applied with more or less success and frequent alteration. 
The year 1911 marks the end of the Manchu Dynasty and the 
beginning of the attempt to establish a republican form of govern- 
ment, involving necessarily also a reorganization of education so 
far as government auspices are concerned. 

THE SIMULTANEOUS DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOV- 
ERNMENT AND GENERAL EDUCATION. 

Either of these tasks taken separate!}' would constitute a gigantic 
problem, whereas the fact is that they are so closely related and one 
so dependent on the other that the attempt to establish a democracy 
before adequate public education is had, or the attempt to establish 
an adequate sj'stem of schools before the Government is itself suffi- 
ciently stable to handle tlie financial burden thus involved, may well 
be regarded, especiall}' when the size of China and her peculiar his- 
tor}^ are noted, as the greatest educational problem of all time, and 
one which will necessarily require several decades for its solution. 

The time limits of the three periods just described apply to mission 
schools and colleges as well as to Government institutions, but with 
different chai-acteristics. Missionaries were the pioneers of the first 



8 MODERX EDUCATlOX'lN CHINA. 

period, and their schools were practically unmatched by Government 
effort. Their work, however, did not have the scope and character 
which it assumed during the second period. There was no well-estab- 
lished educational policy ; schools were opened as necessity arose and 
funds permitted and many were "called " to educational work who 
would have '' chosen " some other form of missionary effort with better 
adjustment and greater efficiency had the demand not been so impera- 
tive. Only toward the end of the first period did the mission boards 
realize the tremendous importance of offering sound education under 
Christian auspices to the youth of awakening China. In the second 
period several fairly strong mission colleges and numerous high and 
low^er schools were developed. These liave not only served as models 
and stimulators of Government effort but have provided some of the 
large number of teachers demanded for the Government's own pro- 
gram. The third period has been one of coordination and affiliation 
between mission institutions, both locally and in large associations, 
while their opportunity for service is even greater to-day than it was 
in 1911 because the political uncertainty' which has prevailed since 
then to date has with but few exceptions greatly handicapped Gov- 
ernment institutions, chiefly through reduced revenue. 

THE GOVERNMENT'S FIRST STEPS, 1862-1897. 

Let us note briefly the main points of progress during these three 
stages of transition, construction, and reorganization. Naturally 
the first step of the Government after the opening of the treaty 
ports was to inaugurate schools for the training of the interpreters 
Avliich this sudden increase in foreign intercourse demanded. Natu- 
rally also the first of these was established in the national capital 
in 1862, which in 1866 Avas raised to a so-called college grade by 
the addition of a scientific department. In 1868 Dr. W. A. P. Martin, 
an American missionary who had specialized in international law, 
was appointed to the staff and in 1869 became the first president of 
what is now known as the Government University of Peking (the 
American Methodist Mission having already taken for its school the 
name of ''Peking University*'). Eeoi'ganized in 1898, this institution 
in 1917 included, besides a preparatory department of some 600 
boarding students with a teaching and administrative staff of G 
foreigners and 47 Chinese, a normal school, and four collegiate 
departments (letters, law, science, and engineering), with a total 
staff of 56 Chinese and 11 foreigners, and some 1,100 students. 
The preparatory school has just been abolished and a two-years' 
preparatory course incorporated in each of the collegiate depart- 
ments. Most of the Chinese instructors in the collegiate departments 



THE CHANGE FROM THE OLD TO THE >s'EW. 9 

liave been trained abroad, many of tlieiu having pievionsly studied 
in mission schools. 

Language schools were started also in Shanghai and Canton 
iminediately aft^r this Peking school. The Government next 
inaugurated technical and professional schools of various sorts and 
of varying excellence and fortune, as follows: 18C9, Mechanical 
School, Shanghai; 1809, naval schools, Foochow; 1879, Telegraph 
College, Tientsin; 1887, Peiyang University, Tientsin; 1890, Naval 
College, Nanking; 1890, Mining and Engineering College, Wuchang; 
1893, Army Medical College, Tientsin; 1897, Nanyan College, 
Shanghai. 

Of these the two survivors worthy of more detailed notice are 
Peiyang University and Nanyang College, now called the Govern- 
ment Institute of Technology. Both of these are national schools 
and are supported in part with funds from the Telegraph Adminis- 
tration, the China Merchants' Steamship Navigation Co., and the 
superintendent of customs. 

Although Peiyang University was inaugurated in 1887 when Dr. 
Charles D. Tenney was made president, organization was not ef- 
fected until after the war with Japan (1894-95). Located in a sub- 
urb of Tientsin, this is now the best established Government school 
in China, comprising departments of general arts and sciences, law, 
and engineering, with about 300 boarding students and a staff of 
some 16 Chinese and 13 Europeans under the presidency of T. L. 
Chao. 

The Government Institute of Technology, located in a suburb of 
Shanghai (the New York of China), was reorganized in 1897 by 
Dr. John C. Ferguson. It now has 600 students and a faculty of 
1-1 Chinese and 6 Europeans. 

It is interesting to note that all three of these Government insti- 
tr.tions of first rank were inaugurated under American presidents 
who had previously been Christian missionaries, while to-day the 
])resident of each is a Chinese. 

Concomitant with the development of these schools attempts were 
made to introduce reforms in the time-honored examination system 
itself. In 1869 mathematics was introduced ; in 1875 the Viceroy Li 
Hung Chang advocated the physical sciences but failed to receive 
royal sanction. War with France in 1887 aroused the Government 
somewhat and natural sciences w^ere introduced in the examination 
system to a limited extent, while mathematics received increased 
attention. The literary chancellors themselves were, of course, unfa- 
miliar with the new subjects and very little w^as actually accom- 
plished. Again the shock of a foreign conflict (Sino- Japanese War 
1894-95) aroused not only the scholars of the realm ))ut the Manchu 



10 MODEEX EDUCx\TfOX IN CHIXA. 

Emperor himself, who forthwith became an ardent student of 
■western arts and sciences. The demand for the new learning became 
so great that vrithin 18 months of the close of the war with Japan all 
modern schools thronghont the land, whether under Government or 
mission auspices or private control, were overcrowded, and such, in 
fact, has been the condition ever since. The eagerness of the Chinese 
for modern education can not be overstated. 

The greatest advocate and active promoter of these educational 
reforms was the illustrious Viceroy Chang Chih Tung, who not only 
inaug-urated an ambitious university scheme at Wuchang, engaging- 
many experts from America and several European countries,^ but by 
his remarkable book, " Learn," - of which millions of copies were 
distributed, prepared the minds of the people throughout the land 
for the sweeping reforms that were so soon to be launched. He out- 
lined a complete system of schools and indicated the curricula from 
prima rj^ grades to university courses, embracing a mixture of Chinese 
classics and the modern learning of the West. He courageously 
advocated the abolishing of the " eight-legged essay " and its accom- 
paniments, and suggested that Buddhist and Taoist temples be con- 
verted into schools and the temple lands and incomes used for educa- 
tional purposes; which has been very largely done, though not until 
the unfortunate reactionary movement had culminated in the Boxer 
outbreak of 1900. 

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN CONFLICTS. 

The decade 1895 to 1905 was crowded with rapid developments 
and reactions. It is indeed curious that the educational history of 
so peace-loving a people as the Chinese should be definitely articu- 
lated Avith foreign conflicts. That decade is of intense interest alike 
to the student of China's educational development and of her inter- 
national relations. 

Ushered in by her war with Japan, it closed with the Kusso- 
eJapanese War, Avhich involved the territory of her chief dependency 
and affected tremendously her whole future as a nation. 

Aroused by the first of these conflicts the Emperor rapidly passed 
from a student to an ardent advocate of modern education, and 
issued in 1898 a series of most remarkable decrees, calling for the 
immediate inauguration of all the reforms suggested by Chang Chih 
Tung and even others. This literally shook the empire, and would 
doubtless have been successful but fov the action of Yuan Shih Kai, 



^ These initial efforts were, however, not properly followed up and to-day yield only a 
memory. 

2 The precise Chinese title is Ch'uan Hsileh I^'ion or "An Exhortation to Learning;" 
the English translation is known as " China's Only Hope." 



TI-IE C'HAT^GE FrtO]\t THE OLD TO THE XEW. 11 

then Viceroy of Chilili, and the most powerful military leader of the 
day. Warned by Yuan the Empress Dowager imprisoned the 
Emperor, and decapitated most of his progressive advisers. His 
edicts were annulled, newspapers were suppressed, the proposed 
schools were held in abeyance, the right to use temples was revoked, 
the eight-legged essay and the old order of examinations were re- 
stored. 

Tliis policy continued until 1900, when the Boxer outbreak caused 
the temporary abandonment of all modern schools and colleges in 
northern China. Some of them, including the Peiyang University, 
were even completely destroyed. The ultimate result was helpful ; 
for after China had been humbled, the program of educational re- 
form was again adopted, and the Empress Dowager herself advo- 
cated the very measures she had so vigorously resisted only a short 
time before. Her decrees were even more far-reaching than those of 
1898. jNIodern education progressed by leaps and bounds; and in the 
midst of reform came the Eusso-Japanese War, which induced even 
greater efforts. The cry of the time was: What Japan has done, 
China can and will do. Students poured into the island empire, as 
many as 15,000. Returning from Japan, these became active in the 
cause of progress and reform, editing magazines and translating 
books, until a veritable flood of literature, much of it immature and 
violent, swept the reading public out of their lethargy. 

PHASES OF THE CONSTRUCTIVE PERIOD. 

Wliile the earlier decrees provided for the official recognition of 
the graduates of modern schools, and for the modernization of the 
traditional schools, those of 1905 abolished the old system of exami- 
nations and the old style school as well, and provided that larger 
numbers of students be sent to Europe and America. 

In 1903 a commission was appointed to devise a detailed plan 
for a national school system, and from 1905 to the end of the Mancliu 
dynasty in 1911 there was an abundant issue of memorials, edicts, 
regulations, etc.. — enough to fill 12 volumes. While many of these 
became immediately and truly effective, many others were never 
fully realized, and one must read reports based on these document-4 
with a questioning spirit, in view of the contrast between proposal 
and accomplishment. Even so the actual results appear truly 
remarkable considering the difficulties and the size of the problem, i 

These regulations and plans have undergone such frequent and 
even radical changes that it suffices for present purposes to indicate 
only tlie main features that have survived, and later to present in 
more detail tlie educational system now in force. 



12 MODEEX EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

A ministry of education ^vas created as one of the 11 great execu- 
tive departments of the State. This assumed the educational func- 
tions previously assigned to the ministry of rites. It organized divi- 
sions to deal with general supervision, technical or special education, 
publication, industrial education, and finance. The present minister 
of education. Fu Tseng-hsiang, was appointed in December, 1917, 
to succeed Fan Yuan-lien, who has since been studying educational 
conditions in the United States and has only recently returned to 
China, but without official appointment. 

Certain subsidiary central authorities are to be noted : A metro- 
politan board of education handles education in the national capital; 
the ministry of foreign affairs is in partial control of Tsing Hua 
College; the ministry of war of military schools throughout the 
country, and naval academies at Foochow, Tientsin. Chefoo. and 
Nanking; the ministry of communications of schools of telegraphy; 
the ministry of agriculture of special and agricultural schools; the 
ministry of finance of a school of finance in Peking; and the Con- 
troller of Customs of a special customs college in Peking. 

The ministry of education, in 1906, defined the aim of the national 
educational system to be the inculcation of loyalty to the Emperor, 
reverence for Confucius, devotion to public welfare, admiration of 
the martial spirit and respect for industrial pursuits; of patriotism, 
morality, and the cooperative spirit as fundamental to a strong na- 
tion and the full realization of China's natural resources. Certainly 
a comprehensive and adequate aim. In 1906 also the unification and 
regulation of the numerous educational associations that had sud- 
denh" developed throughout the country was begun. Educational 
administration in the Provinces and in smaller local areas was out- 
lined in great theoretical completeness but has fallen short in prac- 
tice. 

Ill connection with the old examination system an elaborate scheme 
of inspection and control had been established and naturally this 
same element has received considerable attention in all the new pro- 
posals. 

The system prior to 1906 provided for a literary chancellor in each 
Province. This office, which originated about 1730 A. D., was an 
adaptation of that of superintendent of learning created at the begin- 
ning of the Manchu dynasty. The Literary Chancellor, acting for 
the Ministry of Rites, controlled the literary competitive examina- 
tions in his Province. He was assisted by a director of studies in 
each prefectm^e and a supervisor in each district. • 

According to the scheme of 1906, each Province was to have a 
commissioner of education appointed by the Throne on the recom- 
jnendation of the ministrv of education, coordinate in rank with the 



THE CHANGE FJROM THE OLD TO THE NEW. 13 

provincial treasurer and the provincial judge, and like tlieni under 
the control of the viceroy or governor, who in turn was under the 
control of the ministry of education in all educational matters. 
Ordinarily, however, the commissioner of education was really the 
chief. Besides a local board of education appointed by the com- 
missioner, each Province was provided with six inspectors, appointed 
by the governor on the nomination of the commissioner. In smaller 
territorial divisions, such as prefectures, subprefectures, departments, 
districts, and villages, the local civil authorities were responsible for 
carrying out the educational policy of the Province. Local " edu- 
cational exhorting bureaus " were established with a district in- 
spector appointed by the commissioner of education, as executive 
officer, who in turn selected an "educational promoter" for each 
school district. Finally there w-ere school trustees elected by the 
people to look after the interests of the school in the village or dis- 
trict, and to see that funds were provided. 

This plan of administration was altered in 1909 and again in 1912 
and in 1913, when the scheme now in force was inaugurated as de- 
scribed in the next section. 

In the summer of 1911 over 100 delegates from the Provinces at- 
tended in Peking the first conference of the Central Educational 
Council which had been created as an advisory body. Recommenda- 
tions were adopted, but the revolution prevented their immediate 
application. 

Along with the development of modern education there was a 
movement toward the adoption of a representative government which 
an imperial decree of 1908 had promised. The ministry of education 
prepared a special educational program hastening the development 
of popular education as the foundation for such a form of govern- 
ment. The year 191G was the time appointed for its establish- 
ment. But the imposing program was never realized, for, first, the 
throne advanced the date of adopting the constitutional government 
from 1917 to 1913, and at the beginning of 1911 another program for 
the following two years was submitted and sanctioned only in turn 
to be cast aside in the political upheaval Avhicli resulted in the down- 
fall of the Manchu dynasty at the end of that very year. 

The schools and colleges of China contributed a great share to the 
revolutionar}^ movement. 

Beginning with October 10, 1911, attention became focused on the 
struggle for liberty and the progTCss of modern education under 
Government auspices throughout the country was temporarily 
checked, though mission schools were relatively little affected. Funds 
intended for educational institutions were used for armies. School 
buildings became soldiers' quarters; in some cases the entire school 



14 MOD^im EDUCATTOlSr I2T CHIKA. 

plant was destroyed by mobs. Students volunteered for service in 
the field, and large numbers of students organized for securing war 
fimds. The students of Canton Christian College raised $55,000 
Chinese currency. The disorganization incident to this I'evolution 
gave the cause of national education a setback from which it has 
not yet fully recovered. 

PHASES OF THE REORGANIZATION. 

The ministry of education of the Provisional Government, organ- 
ized in Nanking, on January 9, 191^, issued a policy and curriculum 
for temporary guidance. The most important and significant meas- 
ures urged were, first, to permit boys and girls to attend the same 
lower primary school ; and, second, to eliminate the classics entirely 
from the curriculum of primary schools. The rapid and general dif- 
fusion of knowledge through public lectures, newspapers, libraries, 
and motion pictures was strongly urged, with a very fair measure of 
success. 

When Yuan Shih Kai was elected President of China. April 1, 1912, 
a new. ministry of education was organized. It ordered an investi- 
gation of educational changes since the outbreak of the revolution 
and endeavored to secure the return of all properties temporarily 
loaned to the militar}^ It decreed that all textbooks should be sub- 
mitted to the ministry for judgment as to their suitability, and it 
called an emergency central educational conference which met m 
Peking, July 10 to August 10, 1912. 

The first minister of education under the Eepublic, Tsai Yiian Pei, 
conceived the aim of education to be the cultivation of virtuous or. 
moral character in the young, supplemented by an industrial and 
military training and rounded out by an aesthetic education. He 
defined proper ethical education as that which instills a riglit knowl- 
edge of liberty, equality, and fraternity. 

Besides the minister of education and the usual assistants in any 
ministry, the plan of reorganization passed by the National Assembly 
and promulgated b}' President Yuan Shih Kai called for 16 na- 
tional inspectors appointed by the President on nomination of the 
minister, and 10 experts in art and science appointed by the latter, 
for one general council and three bureaus. The general council was 
to have charge of matters relating to schools under direct control of 
the ministry, teachers in public schools, educational associations, in- 
vestigations^ and compilations, school hygiene, organization and 
maintenance of school libraries, school museums and educational 
exliibits: the three bureaus were to have oversight, respectively^ of 
general education, teclinieal or professional education, and social 
education. 



IL THE PRESENT STATUS OF GOVERNMENT EDUCATION. 

In 1913 a new scheme of national inspection divided tlie country 
into eight inspectorial divisions: (1) Chihli, Feno-tien, Kirin, Heil- 
ungkiang; (2) Shantung, Shausi, Honan; (3) Kiangsu, Anhiu, Che- 
kiang; (4) Hnpeh, Hunan, Kiangsi; (5) Shensi, Szechwan; (G) 
Kansu, Sinkiang; (7) Fukien, Kwangtung, Kwangsi; (8) Yunnan, 
KweichoAv; each territorial division to have two inspectors. Mon- 
golia and Tibet were temporarily subject to special regulations. 

The office of inspector was made merely advisory in character in 
recognition of the fact that under the new Gov^ernment central au- 
thority had become less arbitrary, while local authorities had as- 
sumed more power of self-government. This system of provincial 
and local administration of education was meant to be provisional 
in character, and the practice in the various provinces has been far 
from uniform, in most of the provinces a department of education 
is an integral part of the provincial administration ; the chief of the 
department being appointed by the President of the Eepublic, while 
there are also provincial inspectors appointed by the governor of 
the province. 

The school system established on the inauguration of the Republic 
is indicated by the following outline: 



Ages. 


Schools. 


Length of course. 


7-10 


LoTver prirnary 


4 years, mpant to T>e compulsory. 




(Higher primary 


n-13 


\ or 

(Industrial of Class B . . . 


Do 




Middle 


4 years. 

i years (1 year preparatory). 

3 years. 


1*-17 


or 
Normal 




or 
Industrial of Class A 


lS>-24 


(University 

■|Hig-tM>r Norm ill 


3 years preparatory plus 3 or four years collegiate. 
1 year preparatory plus 3 or 4 years collegiate. 
Do 




I Professional school 









Supplementary courses offering contiauation of work for two 
years are provided for those graduates of both the lower and the 
higher primary schools who can not attend the school of higher 
grade. 

Industrial schools of class A offer general industrial education 
while those of class B provide elementary industrial education or 
training in special trades. 

15 



16 MODERX EDUCA^flON IN CHINA. 

"^Miereas before the revolution tlie responbil)ility of establishing 
primai'v schools Avas not placed upon any specific authority, the new 
administration definitely assigns this duty to cities, towns, and vil- 
lages. The establishment of middle schools is left to the provincial 
authorities : and. for the first tinie in Chinese historj^ middle schools 
for girls are sj^ecifically provided for on the same basis as those for 
the boys. 

Higher primary schools may be established only after a sufficie^ 
number of lower primary schools have been provided; and the c - 
tablishment or abolition of any primary school, under either public 
or private auspices, must receive the sanction of the chief district 
administrative official, who also supervises all educational affairs en- 
trusted to the heads and teachers of both grades of primary schools. 

The minister of education may order the various Provinces to 
increase the number of middle schools. Districts possessing finan- 
cial strength may establish district middle schools and individuals 
or corporations may establish private middle schools; but in every 
case the sanction of the minister of education must first be secured. 

Schools to train for a special profession or vocation may be estab- 
lished by the Central Government, by provincial authorities, or by 
private enterprise. A middle school course or the equivalent is to 
]>e required for entrance. 

The normal schools aim to train elementary school teachers; the 
higher normal schools, teachers for middle and normal schools. Nor- 
mal schools are established by the Provinces: Avhile provincial higher 
normal schools are supported from the national treasury. An ele- 
mentarj^ school is attached to each normal school, and each higher 
normal school has one elementary school and one middle school at- 
tached to it. Xormal schools for girls have kindergartens attached. 

CURRICULA. 

Curricula changes have included the elimination of Chinese classics 
as a subject in itself and the introduction of new sulijects of study 
having a social and industrial significance. The scheme in force is 
as follows: 

Lower primary school (four years). — Morals, mother tongue, 
mathematics, handwork, drawing, singing, and physical culture. 
Sewing for girls. Handwork is made compulsory. Hours per week: 
First 3"ear, 22 : second year, 20 ; third and fourth years. 28 for boys 
and 29 for girls. 

Higher piimary school (three years). — Morals, mother tongue, 
mathematics. Chinese history, geography, physical science, hand- 
work, drawing, singing, and physical culture, with agriculture for 
boys and sewing for girls. English or another foreign language may 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



iULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 2. 







m 


IT' ^^^^^^H 


.111^' 


"^ 




"'■ ._, j 






^m 


'^ 






i 



yl. LOOKOUT TOWER IN THE MIDST OF THE EXAMINATION HALLS AT 

NANKING. 




B. MAIN CORRIDOR OF THE EXAMINATION HALLS. CANTON. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 3. 




A. IMAGE OF CONFUCIUS IN THE COLLEGE OF THE 
WHITE DEER GROTTO. 




B. EXAMINATION STALLS AT NANKING. 



PRESENT STATUS OF GOVERNMEaSTT EDUCATION. 17 

be added. First 3'ear, 30 hours per -week; j^ec ond and tliird 3'cars, 30 
for boys and 32 for girls. 

Middle school (four years; only one course). — Morals, Chinese lan- 
guage, foreign language, history, geography, mathematics, nature 
study, physics, chcmistr}', government, economics, drawing, hand- 
work, music, physical culture. First year, 33 recitations; second, 34; 
third and fourth years, 35. 

Girls'^ middle schools. — Household arts, gardening and sewing are 
required ; one hour less per week in each year being required than in 
the case of boys' middle school. 

Although in 1909 two parallel courses of study were outlined for 
middle schools, the one industrial and emphasizing science, the 
other literary, emphasizing the classics, in 1911 the two courses, as 
indicated in the schedule just cited, were fused and made lower in 
grade and more general in character, owing partly to the lack of 
qualified teachers and students and the expense of adequate equip- 
ment and partly to a feeling that secondary education in China 
should not be highly specialized for the present. 

Boys' normal school (two courses of study). — Ethics, education, 
Chinese language, writing, English, history, geography, mathematics, 
nature study, physics and chemistry, civics and economics, drawing, 
handwork, agriculture, music, and physical culture. Course A : The 
preparatory course, 32 hours per week; regular course, 33 first year; 
35 for each of the remaining three years. Course B : Ethics, educa- 
tion, Chinese literature, mathematics, nature study, physics and chem- 
istry, drawing, handwork, agriculture, music, and physical culture. 
Thirty-five hours per week. 

Girls'' normal school. — Generally similar to that for boys, except 
that agriculture is omitted and household arts, gardening, and 
sewing are added. The number of recitations is slightly larger than 
that required in boys' normal schools; however, English, requiring 
three hours per week, may be omitted. 

Higher normal school is divided into three courses. (1) Prepara- 
tory: Ethics, Chinese language,, English, mathematics, drawing, 
singing, and physical culture. (2) A regidar course is offered in 
one of the following departments: {a) Chinese language: {h) Eng- 
lish; {c) history and geogi-aphy: {d) mathematics and physics; 
{e) physics and chemistry: and (/) nature study. All the de- 
partments have the following subjects in common : Ethics, psychol- 
og}% education. English, and physical culture. (3) A so-called 
" research cour^,e "' of intensive study in two or three subjects of the 
regular course. 

126111°— 19 2 



18 MODERN EDUCA'IJO:^' IK CHINA. 

The dominance of the chxssics in the modern scliools of China has 
lasted for a very short time compared with the struggle against 
the classics in the educational history of other nations. 

The organization of the university differs from that in force 
before the revolution in that the faculty of classics has been dropped. 
The preparatory^ department of the university has three groups 
of studies covering a tliree years' course. The first is for those 
wishing to enter the faculties of arts, law, or commerce ; the second 
prepares for science, applied science, agriculture, or pharmacy; 
'and the third prepares for the study of medicine. 

There are five educational institutions of higher grade under the 
Government that are worthy of note. The work at the Government 
University of Peking, at Peiyang University near Tientsin, and 
at the Government Institute of Technology near Shanghai, has al- 
ready been mentioned. Of Tsing Hua College near Peking and of 
the Teachers' College at Nanking w^e shall presently give some de- 
tail. Government universities are said to be contemplated at Nan- 
king. Wuchang, and Canton but have not been organized as yet. 

PROBLEMS BEING SOLVED. 

Among present problems that are being solved we note : The more 
adequate role of the school in the development of moral character, 
the strengthening of school discipline, the more effective adjustment 
of education to the life of the pupil and the needs of the community, 
and, most important of all, the provision of a more adequate corps of 
qualified teachers througli whom alone can these other problems be 
satisfactorily handled. 

Some of the most important general problems remain unsolvetl, 
namely, the financing of t]ie public-school system, the provision of 
universal education, and the relation of missionary institutions to the 
public educational system. 

DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL CHARACTER. 

The classics, which formerly constituted the center of the cur- 
riculum and supplied the ethical and moral ideals which produced 
such marked qualities in the Chinese people as a whole for many 
centuries, are now largely set aside. But even in the period of transi- 
tion ethical instruction has had a prominent place in the curriculum, 
and since the inauguration of the Eepublic has received increased 
emphasis. 

If it is remembered that before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees 
China's system of education began, and that with a revision in G27 
A. D. it continued until 1905 to drill all the scholars and statesmen 
of i\\Q realm iu n system of ethics the cardinal principle of which 



PRESENT STATUS OF GOVEEXMElSrT EDUCATION. 19 

is filial pietv ; and if their history is then compared with the promise 
contained in the Hebrew Decalogue which says "Honor thy father 
and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee," it may readily be believed that here is at 
least one of the reasons for the survival of the Chinese people. 

Of course practice is better than precept; and much remains to 
be accomplished in the line of providing teachers who will them- 
selves truly exemplify the principles of right conduct and also pro- 
vide opportunities for the spontaneous and proper expression of 
right instincts and impulses on the part of their pupils. This prob- 
lem is intensified by reason of the long-established custom of sup- 
pression X3i-acticed by the old-style Chinese teacher. 

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. 

During the first decade of the new education student bodies were 
noted for their unruliness; strikes and even riots were fairly fre- 
quent. This tendency to insubordination arose partly from a wrong 
conception of liberty and partly from the fact that the student body 
often included those advanced in age. Intensely nationalistic and 
eager to exert their influence, Chinese students have seized every 
political crisis to hold mass meetings, resulting in either advice or 
protest to the Government. The attempt to suppress these outbursts 
naturally caused friction, and the situation was often badly han- 
dled by school officials through lack of authority or of adminis- 
trative ability. Sometimes the teaching body was to blame either 
because of an overbearing and haughty attitude or because of slack- 
ness and indifference. Owing to the enormous demand for teachers 
in these earlier years, many were appointed who were totally unpre- 
pared in both mind and spirit for the w^ork of teaching. This 
problem of school discipline has begun to diminish as a better 
trained corps of teachex's and administrators is being provided. 

ADJUSTMENT OF EDUCATION TO LIFE NEEDS. 

The effective relating of education to the life of those who receive 
it has yet to be accomplished in China. The conflict between book 
learning and the newer and more practical forms. of education is now 
on in China just as it was not long ago in western countries, in which 
it is not even yet fully settled. The deeper questions of content and 
of method, such as have been raised by the necessities of war training 
in America, apply in a peculiar way also to China. Until very 
recently there was on the part of mission schools and colleges and 
also on the part of Government institutions too much of a tendency 
to import a foreign cap for the Chinese pate, and while the error of 



-^ 



20 MODERN EDUCATtOlSr IN CHINA. 

this v<'ay is new fully realized the questions of curricula are still 
largeh'^ unsolved. Many experiments are being tried and much 
progress is being made, especially in the institutions Avhere educa- 
tional traditions are not overemphasized, and where there is a 
genuine desire to make education the real threshold to an efficient 
and happy life on the part of each pupil. 

In the first i^lace tlie former conception of education as prepara- 
tion for official life, though greatly diminished, has not yet been 
completely replaced in the Chinese public mind by the broader 
idea, of education as a training of each man for all phases of the 
life he is to live. 

Secondly, in importing content and even m-cthod bodily from 
America (for the importation of educational ideas has been chiefly 
from America), there has been too little regard for the modifications 
that should be determined in view of the peculiar history of the 
pupils, racially and as individuals, and of the present-day status of 
their community in all phases of its life and of the need for an ap- 
proximate but vital adjustment and solution of the many problems 
which China faces and which only her own citizens, properly trained 
and inspired, can solve. 

In learning from the west, care must be taken not to sacrifice what 
is really essential in Chinese culture itself; there should be fusion, 
not substitution, and the fusion should be effected gradually rather 
than too radically. More attention should be paid to the acquisi- 
tion of special skill rather than advancement in memory studies; 
and w^herever possible all subjects, including history and other social 
sciences, should be taught by the laboratory method as well as the 
natural sciences. In fact, laboratory and field work should predomi- 
nate. Only so can commercial, industrial, social, and spiritual re- 
form be adequately promoted by and in the rising generations. 

SUPPLY OF TEACHERS. 

The greatest impediment to the progress of modern education in 
China has been and still is the lack of competent teachers in suf- 
ficient numbers. It has been impossible to recruit teachers from the 
old schools to any extent, because of the peculiar nature of both the 
content and the method of the old learning and also because of the 
conservatism of the old-style teacher. 

The most available source of able teachers has been found among 
the graduates of the mission schools, but this supply is far below the 
demand, which naturally is constantly rising both in numbers and 
quality. 

The next most immediate source was in the first decade found 
among those literati who attempted to prepare themselves as mod- 



• PRESENT STATUS OF GOVERNMENT EDUCATION. 21 

ern teacliers by special Kliort-ciit stnd;, . Tlieir eliiof lecommend.i- 
tion was their earnestness, but even so tliey could hardly be depended 
on except as a temporary makeshift. 

The use of foreif^n teachers has been confined to the liigher insti- 
tutions, beginning with the middle and noi'nial schools. The number 
of such, however, has never been very large. In 1911 the total 
number of foreign teachers (this includes Japanese, of course, as 
well as Europeans and Americans) w^as but 545; in 1917, probably 
not nioi'e than COO. 

At one -time th.e number of Japanese instructors engaged in pro- 
vincial middle and normal schools was quite large, but for a com- 
bination of reasons th.eir employment has for the last decade almost 
entireh^ ceased. 

The number of teachers recruited from students returned from 
abroad has been relatively small. Even those who have found posi- 
tions in the schools rarely expect to devote their lives to teaching. 
There is great need that a larger number of Chinese students trained 
in America and Europe should respond definitely to the call of their 
country for well-trained native teachers and educational adminis- 
trators. In more recent years some of the ablest of the returned stu- 
dents have gone into school work, but there is still an urgent need 
for a more adequate response in the right spirit. Too many of even 
the relatively small number who have entered educational work have 
failed to realize their obligations and opportunities and the necessity 
of a gradual development of their own capacities for the higher 
positions. 

The ministry of education reported for 1918 a total of 150,000 
teachers as against 89,760 for 1910 and 03,500 for 1908. Of these 
84,755 were in schools of general culture, 2.712 in technical and vo- 
cational schools, and 2,299 in normal and teachers' training schools. 
While the largest number of teachers in the lower schools is found 
among the graduates of Chinese normal schools and training insti- 
tutes, until quite recently the material attracted to the normal schools 
has been of relatively poor quality. The increase in ninnbers has, 
however, been very rapid. 

The total number of students in normal schools and training in- 
stitutes has grown as follows: 1903, 80; 1901, 2,100: 1905, 5,321; 
1910, 28,572: 1918, 29,500. According to the Educational Directory 
of 1918 the number of Government normal schools of all types num- 
bered 188, only 7 of which, however, offered the full higher normal 
course. 

The most hopeful sign of the times with reference to the normal- 
school problem in China is the very effective and rapidly growing 
Teachers' "College, Avhich has been inaugurated at Xanking under 



22 MODEEX EDUCATIOX IN CHINA. 

Dr. P. W. Kiio, a g-raduate of Columbia ITniversity, This institu- 
tion founded in 191i liad in 1917 a faculty of l-k returned students 
from America, 8 Chinese instructors without modern degrees, and 
2 Americans. The college is for men only, the average age of its 
283 students being 22. A vocational middle school was opened in 
1917 with 95 pupils. There is a primary practice school in connec- 
tion with the college. This institution is serving as a model and its 
influence is being strongly felt. There is great need for more and 
better normal schools of this higher type to train teachers for the 
secondary schools. 

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS. 

Some of the most important general problems remain unsolved; 
namely, the financing of the public-school system, the provision of 
miiversal education, and the relation of missionary institutions to 
the public educational system. 

FINANCE. 

Funds for the maintenance of education are supposed to be regular 
items of the national and provincial budgets. The sources of revenue 
have been indicated as follows: (1) Income from public property. 
(2) interest from deposits, (3) Government appropriations, (-1) 
public funds. (5) tuition and fees, (6) compulsory contributions, 
(7) voluntary contributions, and (8) miscellaneous sources of income. 
Some of the ways by which mone}- has been raised are extremely in- 
teresting and at times pathetic. Money formerly devoted to re- 
ligious processions, theatrical exhibitions, and clan ancestral halls 
is sometimes put into the school fund. Temples and monasteries 
were converted into schools, and temple lands and incomes appro- 
priated. In some cases the return from gambling licenses has been 
devoted in part to edtication. Official recognition is offered to en- 
courage private nnmificence. Some of the Provinces have increased 
the rate of certain local taxes, but such increases are said to have 
been generally small. Since the establishment of the Republic the 
practice of increasing the rate of local taxes for educational pur- 
poses has become more general, but as yet no system of general 
taxation has been evolved. 

There is moreover a failure to discriminate properly between the 
Government tax and the local tax, and there is a constant conflict 
between the central and provincial governments as to remittances. 

The solution of the problem of financing the new educational sys- 
tem is dependent upon the larger problem of the national revenue. 
Thus far the fiscal aspect of China's national life has been far fi'om 
satisfactory. The successive and excessive revolutions have played 



PRESENT STATUS OF GOVEKNMEXT EDl'CATIOX. 2.» 

liavoc v.ith China's finances, and years must elap.-c before tlieir 
effect ceases to be felt. It is estimated that the first revohition akwic 
cost China in additional public expenditures and private losses a 
sum of about $172,000,000 United States currencj', aside from the 
complete cessation of internal revenue for several months. The 
burden of maintaining the militarj'- in China is proportionately 
greater than in any other countrj^ not actually at war, amounting 
to as much as 40 per cent of her total national budget. 

The simplest method of increasing China's revenue ■would be to 
increase the customs import dut}^ which has stood for years at only 
5 per cent, but this requires an international agreement on the part 
of the leading foreign powers in treaty with China who recently 
offered, in return for China's joining the Allies, to permit an increase 
to 7 per cent (really only an effective 5 per cent owing to scale of 
values adopted), which is still remarkably low when it is considered 
that many Chinese products entering the United States pay from 25 
to 00 per cent duty. Unable of herself to determine her own policy 
of customs revenue, China's only hope for independence lies in the 
true observance of the open-door policy and the development of her 
natural resources with the financial and technical assistance of 
America and Great Britain and Japan ; but in association, not sepa- 
rately. China's natural resources and her cheap and abundant labor 
still await proper development and application as the basis of all 
other prosperity, including educational de\elopment, and in turn 
popular education is a necessary accompaniment and adjunct of this 
material development. 

One step toward a solution of the financial problem of general 
education would be the elimination of the great surplus of non- 
teaching officers ; while in 1910 the Government teaching force num- 
bered less than 90,000, the number of purely administrative offi- 
cers was nearly 9G,000. In 1918 there were probably 157,000 officers 
out of a total staff of 326,000. Private schools and those under mis- 
sion auspices also should be encouraged, thus reducing the Govern- 
ment's burden at least for a time. 

When in 1910 lack of funds prevented the establishment of a 
sufficient number of modern elementary schools for the masses, 
and an effort was made to reform the traditional schools already 
found throughout the country bj' introducing modern textbooks, 
etc., a scheme of inspection and reward brought surprising results; 
for example, in Peking, at an expense for awards of about $1,000, 
United States currency, no less than 172 of these schools with 4,300 
j)upils were developed within two years. Similar results were se- 
cured throughout the country, but statistics are not available. 



24 



MODEEN EDL'CATiON IN CHINA. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 

The problem of supplying educational facilities for China's mil- 
lions is so gigantic in its scope and so complicated in its character 
that its successful solution calls for not only the highest profes- 
sional skill, but an even greater enthusiasm, patriotism, and altru- 
ism. Since the establishment of the Eepublic the problem of uni- 
versal education has loomed large in the minds of Chinese statesmen 
and educators. Preliminary steps taken by the Ministry of Educa- 
tion have included an eifort to establish compulsory education be- 
tween the ages of 7 and 14; but naturally this is as yet largely 
unrealized, through lack of orgauization. Emphasis is now prop- 
erly being placed on primary education, though at first Government 
educational plans were decidedly "top-heavy." Combinations re- 
cently effected in higher education have permitted more money to 
be devoted to primary schools- 
Reliable data are not available but it appears that the proportion 
of children of school age who attend school varies considerably among 
the provinces, in some being as low as one-fortieth, in others rising to 
nearly a half. 

Some idea of the growth of the Government effort in education 
may be had from the following data as to the number of schools of all 
grades under various native auspices : 

Xumher of schools of all tjrades. 



Years. 


Government. 


Public. 


Private. 


Total. 


1905 


3,605 
14,301 


393 
32,254 


224 
5,793 


4,222 


1910 


52,238 


19151 


122,286 


1916 1 - - - 


1 




129, 739 


1918 1 


i 




134,000 




! 







1 Details not available. 

Of this total number of schools probably 125,000 are lower pri- 
mary. 

The total enrollment in schools under various native auspices in 
1905 was 102,767, and in 1910, 1,625,531:, whereas in 1903 there were 
but 1.274 students in all modern schools under native auspices. For 
1917-18 the enrollment has been reported as 4.500.000, with an ex- 
penditure of about $40,000,000 (silver). 

This problem of education for China's millions is fraught with 
difficulties. There should be 1,000,000 schools instead of 134,000, and 
an addition of 2,000,000 teachers, with all that is involved in the 
preparation of these teachers and the financing of the program. 

Then there is the language difficulty. Since the Chinese language' 
is not alphabetical, but ideographic, learning to read is a much 



PRESENT STATUS OF GOVERNMENT EDUCATION. 25 

harder task than, in most countries ; and this is intensified by the fact 
that the written language is not the same as the spoken tongue, and 
that the spoken hmguage is not the same over the country, but is 
subject to numerous dialects. The language difliculty is being over- 
come by: (1) Substitution of a rational process of learning the mean- 
ing instead of merely memorizing the soimd of the character, as was 
the old style in elementary instruction; (2) use of graded and illus- 
trated readers; (3) publication of books and papers in the vernacular 
specially adapted to the daily speech of the people; (4) in the hands 
of modern trained Chinese the written language proper is growing 
clearer through simplification of style and introduction of punctua- 
tion; (5) a more widespread and insistent emphasis on the study of 
Mandarin in all schools, in order to hasten the unification of the 
spoken language throughout China; and (6) a m^ore v/idespread use 
of a properly developed romanized or phonetic form of the written 
language. 

But development of the language so as to be able adequately to ex- 
press the content of modern knowledge presents a most tremendous 
jn-oblem, which only native scholars highly trained in modern 
thought and equally familiar with their native tongue and its pre- 
vious development can solve. It will take time, but this difficulty 
will ultimately be overcome. It is, however, an even greater problem 
than would have been presented had all the content of modern knowl- 
edge knocked at the door of eleventh-centiiry English and demanded 
immediate expression. So long as this language difficulty remains 
so largely unsolved it will be necessary to conduct the liigher grades 
of instruction in the sciences with English as the medium — at least 
for those who are themselves to be leaders in the renaissance. To 
have a share in the preparation of m.en who will solve this problem 
is about as far as the foreigner can hope to go. 

GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE TOWARD MISSIONARY EDUCATION.* 

Under the Manchu dynasty graduates of missionary schools were 
denied Government degrees and titles, and the schools were not even 
asked to register. When the franchise for the election of representa- 
tives to the provincial assemblies was given to certain classes of peo- 
ple the graduates of Government institutions were included, but not 
those of mission colleges. This discrimination was made, it is said, 
to preserve the national character of the new educational movement, 
and was neither anti-Christian nor anti-foreign. Though no definite 
action has yet been taken by the new Government regarding the re- 
lation of missionary education to the Government system, the sub- 
ject is being studied. 

^ This section is based on Tcacliers College, Columbia University, Contributions to 
Education No. 64, by P. W. Kuo, New York, 1915, pp. 136-140. 



26 MODEEIS^ EDUCAfflOX TN CHINA. 

The situations in Japan and India throw some light on the problem. 
In Japan a Christian school may hold one of three relations to the Gov- 
ernment: (1) Government sanction involving practically no regula- 
tion or inspection, and imposing no religious restriction. (2) Recog- 
nition as a school of a certain grade, implying certain privileges and 
imposing certain conditions, but permitting full religious freedom. 
The chief privileges are the postponement of military conscription, 
admission to the higher Government schools, and the one-year volun- 
tary military service after graduation. The chief conditions accom- 
panying this form of recognition are that the curriculum of the 
school must, in the main, conform to that of the Government middle 
schools; certain regulations are imposed to safeguard the standard 
of the school ; and the school must always be open to inspection. (3) 
Eecognition of the school as an integral part of the Government sys- 
tem, subject to all the requirements and enjoying all the privileges of 
a regular Government school. It is supposed that this form confers 
greater prestige ; but, of course, that depends on the true value of the 
Government's own institutions, and while of weight in Japan hardly 
applies in China, as yet. This form of recognition prohibits religious 
teaching and religious services. The prohibition is, however, car- 
ried out with varying degrees of strictness, according to the attitude 
of local officials. In most schools voluntarj'^ classes in religion are 
allowed at some time of the day either in or outside of the school 
buildings. 

In India, where the educational system consists of institutions 
organized by private initiative but aided by Government grants, mis- 
sionary schools, like other private schools, receive grants-in-aid if 
they are efficient in the secular instruction conveyed, whatever may 
be the arrangements for religious instruction. The amount and con- 
tinuance of the assistance given depends upon the periodical report 
of the inspectors, who take no notice of the religious instruction, but 
merely ascertain whether the character of the secular instruction en- 
titles the school to consideration in the distribution of the grants-in- 
aid. 

The system of recognition which China might adopt should require 
the fulfillment of certain educational standards, but take no account 
of the religious teaching. Some missionaries consider that even the 
third form of the Japanese system is desirable, claiming that a better 
class of students will come to schools having this form of recog- 
nition, and that they receive religious instruction gladly and heartily 
when attendance is voluntary, so that though the direct results may 
be less, they are not forced products, but are of genuine and healthy 
growth ; and that the school can be kept Christian in tone by other 
channels than the classroom. 



PKHriKNT STATICS OF GOVERXMEXT EDUCATION. 27 

Tliei'c "^^ill need to be considerable progress in the Government's 
own educational program, and especially in tlic settling of its joolicy 
and in the choice of qualified administrators, before the missionary 
institutions could justifiably be subjected to any degree of real gov- 
ernmental control. And yet in due time the Government should exer- 
cise legitimate supervision of the educational work of the mission- 
aries, as well as of other private educational institutions, so as to 
utilize all educational agencies to supplement the national educational 
Avork. 

SCHOOL FEES. 

Tuition in Government schools is determined by the head of the 
school concerned in accordance with the standard set by the ministry 
of education. In private schools it is determined by the organizers, 
but must be reported. Fees are charged at a monthly rate not ex- 
ceeding the following schedule: Lower primary, 30 cents (Chinese 
currency) ; higher primary and elementary industrial, GO cents; mid- 
dle schools, one to tAvo dollars ; higher industrial, 80 cents to a dollar 
and a half; professional schools, two dollars to two and a half; uni- 
versity, three dollars; normal and higher normal, tuition free and 
cash allowances made to students. 

The school year is divided into three terms : August 1 to December 
SI, January 1 to March 31, April 1 to July 31 ; summer vacation is 
from 30 to 50 days in July and August. Schools are closed on Sun- 
diijs and on memorial days such as the anniversary of the inaugura- 
tion of the Republic, October 10, and the birthday of Confucius; 
on these days special exercises are held. 

Mission schools generally observe a two-semester year, September 
to January both inclusive, and February to June. Several also 
conduct summer schools in July or August. 

Tuition fees in mission schools vary from nothing to a substantial 
figure in the best established institutions. As a rule the fees are 
small in the elementary schools, as these are often maintained chiefly 
for children of church members; in secondary schools the rates rLse 
and in some of the mission colleges such as St. John at Shanghai, 
Yali at Changsha and Canton Christian College no difficulty is 
encountered in more than filling all available space at a tuition rela- 
tively much higher than is common in America. At Canton Christian 
College, for instance, the annual tuition is 15 to 25 times the cost 
of table board for one month, whereas in an American college with 
a tuition of say $150 for the year, table board would ordinarily not 
necessarily exceed $30 to $50 per month, a ratio of only one-fifth or 
one third. Of course in institutions where these higher fees prevail, 
nunlerOus scholarships are required to provide for the poor but 
worthy student. 



28 MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

DEGREES. 

^Ylien in 1905 the ancient system of literary examinations was 
abolished, the old style Chinese degrees naturally ceased also. It 
Avas then proposed to grant official degrees to graduates of Govern- 
ment colleges and to students returning from abroad upon their 
passing special examinations. This was abandoned in 1911 when 
a new civil service was inaugurated entirely separate from the 
educational system. Graduation from a college itself now confers 
a degree, which, however, is purely academic and carries no privilege 
of official preferment. Graduates of college or university receive 
the degree of " Chin Shih ; " graduates of a high school and others 
of equal rank receive a '' Kung Shen ;'* while graduates of a higher 
primary or lower industrial school receive a " Sheng Yiian. " 

American mission colleges grant the B. A. degree under super- 
vision of the educational authorities of the State in which the home 
board of trustees may be organized. St. John's College at Shanghai, 
for instance, is subject to the final educational control of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, while Nanking University and Canton Christian 
College are under the Regents of the University of the State of New 
York, and their diplomas are granted under the Eegents' super- 
vision and seal. 

STUDENTS ABROAD. 

An important phase of modern educational development in China 
is that connected with the going abroad to study of a large number of 
young men and women. The earliest of these went to America and 
England in the seventies, but the most marked exodus was that to 
Japan after 1905. 

Many of these students returning from Japan became strenuous 
agitators for reforms, often with no appreciation of the difficulties 
that could only gradually be overcome, and the Chinese Government 
at one time imposed restrictions on this exodus to Japan. In more re- 
cent years the numbers liave been smaller from an entirely different 
cause. Owing to various actions and demands of Japan the patri- 
otic spirit of the Chinese students has been now and again aroused 
and forthwith expressed by a protest in the form of a boycott of 
Japanese institutions. The most recent of these was in the spring of 
191S when practically every Chinese student in Japan either returned 
home or at least ceased to attend school. The second predominant 
factor has been the establishment of the so-called '■* indemnity scholar- 
ships " for study in America and the development of Tsing Hua Col- 
lege near Peking for the preliminary training of those who are to 
enter on such scholarships. According to the original plan 50 stu- 
dents are to be sent each year to the United States on indemnity 



PRESENT STATUS OF OOTERNMEFT EDUCATION. 29 

scholarships beginning with 1909. At first these were bent directly 
from various schools, chiefly the mission colleges, throughout China, 
after passing conipetitive examinations in Peking; then in 1911 the 
Middle School at Tsing Hua was established and now only candi- 
dates who first pass through this school are sent to the United 
States on indemnity scholarships. Others have been sent on schol- 
arships from the provincial governinents, especially since the inaug- 
uration of the Eepublic. Tsing Hua is now aiming to develop a 
collegiate department of its own so that hereafter most of the indem- 
nity scholars coming to America will come for graduate "work only. 
While we believe that many of those who have come thus far have 
come at too early a stage, there will not be a true fulfillment of the 
purposes of the foundation in promoting the mutual relations of 
China and America if this development of higher work at Tsing 
Hua prevents an adequate number of qualified students from actually 
reaching America: for only by their bringing to Americans through 
personal contact in the United States an appreciation of Chinese 
characteristics and taking back to China the best that our civilization 
in all its phases has to offer them can the two peoples be brought 
effectively together. Avhir-h is the real purpose underlying the return 
of the indemnity fund. 

In 1917 Tsing Hua College had an enrollment of 624, all boarders, 
of an average Kge of IG. while the staff included 25 Chinese trained in 
the United States, and IT Americans, as well as 19 Chinese without a 
foreign training. 

It is reported that the Japanese Government has proposed to use 
a part of the 1900 indemnity fund still due to it in the establishing 
in Peking of a school similar to Tsing Hua, in which students Avill be 
prepared under a faculty of Japanese and Chinese returned from 
Japan, for further study in Japan ; and thus form a basis for the de- 
velopment of a better mutual understanding. 

Prior to 1907 students abroad were under the care of China's 
diplomatic representatives. In 1907 a Chinese Educational Mission 
was organized to supervise all such students, especially those sent 
under indemnity scholarships, and in 1913 all students supported by 
the provincial governments also came under this educational mis- 
sion's general supervision. In 1909 there were in Tokyo 1.992 Chi- 
nese Government students in collegiate schools and 395 in military 
schools, totaling 2,387: besides 2,500 private students. In 1910 5,000 
private Chinese students were resident in Japan, 150 of themw^omen. 
The same year in the United Kingdom there were some 140 Chinese 
Government scholarship students and an equal number supported by 
private funds: in Belgium, 70 Government students; in France, 80; 
in Germany. 60; in Austria, 10: in Kussia, 15. No information as to 
the number of private students in these countries is available. In the 



80 MODEKN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

United States in 1910 there were at least 600. For the academic year 
1918-19, besides 373 " indemnity students "" in this comitry, 38 of 
"svhom are women, there are 30 students supported by the Central 
Government and 183 supported by various provincial governments, 
of whom 8 are women. There are also some 764 studying in America 
on their own resources (the number of women in this group has not 
been available) ; making a total of 1,350, of whom 250 are in pre- 
paratory school and 1,100 in college. 

EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 

Although women had no proper place in the old educational sys- 
tem of China, almost immediately after the new era dawned for men 
came that for women also. Of course mission schools for girls have 
existed for many years (since 1844) but they have never had ade- 
quate emphasis, and even to-day there are not more than three insti- 
tutions in all China where women can get collegiate training of 
proper grade; these are all under American mission auspices. It 
was 50 years after the opening of the first mission school for girls 
that the first modern school for girls under Chinees auspices was 
opened (Shanghai, 1897). 

Prior to 1907 Government officials emphasized the importance of 
educating Avomen, and some of the Provinces established girls' 
schools, but the Central Go\"ernment attempted neither to provide 
nor to regulate them. In 1907, however, official provision was made 
not only for primary schools for girls, but also for normal schools, 
and women have been given Government scholarships for study 
abroad. At the present time there are 46 such in the United States, 
and about 80 others dependent on private support.^ 

There are to-day scores of girls' nonnal schools of more or less 
excellence, and Chinese opinion is rapidly developing a new status 
for the women of Catha}'. Certainly there is no more significant 
factor in the renaissance of China than this; but very much yet 
remains to be done, and many first-class high schools and a few first- 
class colleges for women are greatly needed. 

Among the higher educational institutions in Canton, for instance, 
Avhich attempt to serve a region of approximately 30,000,000 popula- 
tion, there is no provision for college work for women, except at the 
Canton Christian College, in connection with the regular courses for 
men also, and no adequate provision for first-class high school educa- 
tion for girls, though at least one of the mission schools is aiming to 
develop such. It is a time for the concentration of all forces whosa 
combined strength will be needed to meet the opportunity adequately. 

1 Data as reported through the Chinese Students" Alliance and through the Edu«- 
tioual Commissioner in Washington differ. 



III. EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AFFECTED BY INTERNAL CON- 
DITION AND INTERNATIONAL SITUATION. 

A review of China-.s internal condition and international relations 
leads to certain conclusions regarding the types of education most 
urgently needed. 

The knowledge, morality, comfort, and organization of the Chinese 
people are all below the level that might be maintained. The earth 
brings forth plentifully, but the homes of the people are barren and 
squalid. In spite of the wonderful career of that great and awful 
Manchu woman, the late Empress Dowager, the place of woman in 
general is low, and home life is impoverished. The ethical standards 
of Confucius are very high, and in some respects the morality of the 
people is greater than in most other nations, but in many respects 
their ideals are very low. Modern science has not sufficient develop- 
ment to offset demonism and superstition as potent factors in the life 
of the people. China is not yet able to conduct her own educational 
work successfully without at least a measure of outside assistance. 
Her material development is only begun, and her moral development 
is slow. The arguments for large educational effort derived from 
these facts are largely independent of the critical situation of China 
at the moment, except as the factors mentioned have been in part 
responsible for her coming into that situation; but these arguments 
are greatly reenforced by the special conditions existing in China at 
this time and affecting the whole international situation, 

China is destined to become one of the foremost producing nations 
of the world, a vast market, a huge stabilizing, peaceful power if 
allowed to develop its gi-eat wealth in its own way. The problem of 
China is a world problem, culturally as vrell as commercially. 

"Western nations, having forced their intercourse on China, ha^-e 
now the responsibility to safeg-uard her independence and the best 
interests of the Chinese people as well as to look after the develop- 
ment of trade. 

The issue in the Orient is sharply drawn: Independent national 

development for China, and continued progress of the other free 

Asiastic States; or the subjection of China, and the endangering of 

all free nationality in Asia. 

31 



32 MODEEN EDr^ATTON IN CHINA. 

The loss of free nationality in Asia would be a calamity to man- 
kind. However justly the occidental may pride himself on his 
mastery of the art of living, however truly he may rejoice in his 
achievements throughout the whole reach of life, a sane modesty, 
taught him by his own science, should keep him from regarding 
western peoples as the whole race of man, or from looking with 
scorn upon entire divisions of the race, whom his training has not 
fitted him to appreciate. 

A proper reverence for humanity will not allow him to exalt his 
own position at the expense of the entire East, or to attempt crudely 
to force upon a whole continent external domination or those forms 
of civilization which are the product in some part of himself. 

From the higher level of human development we may feel that 
the world is destined to profit greatly by events in the Far East if 
they result in restoring to humanity the whole of Asia, free to join 
in making the history of the next hundred years, free to be itself 
and to supplement, with all of good there is manifest or dormant 
in it, the strength and goodness of the West. 

The shortest road to a partial success in this endeavor to preserve 
free nationality in Asia is the development of China's material 
resources, which will not only enrich China and the world, but will 
help to arouse the people from their age-long sleep, and to create a 
sense of nationhood. 

But China's independence should concern her friends in the West 
chiefly because such independence is essential to something far moi ~ 
important : True freedom for the Chinese people. The dormant pow 
ers now awakening in this race and i^romising such a future for it 
in the commercial and political affairs of the world demand im.- 
peratively that there be set in motion, side by side with this material 
transformation, forces far more subtle that shall bring about a true 
renaissance of the nation by influencing profoundly the intellect and 
the soul of the race. Only so can the Chinese people be speedily re- 
stored to the modern world. 

It is significant that the greatest physical achievement of the an- 
cient Chinese, the Great Wall, which was constructed to shut out for- 
eign intruders, has been broken down in all essential respects, and 
China is to-day fairly ready for foreign assistance in solving her 
problems, if it be friendly and not predatory. 

This nation, whose past achievements rank among the wonders of 
history, this ancient and largest of all the nations, lies helpless among 
the powers of the present day, surviving through the protection 
arising from the balance of competitive interests of the larger 
powers. 

The reason for this is complex, but the solution is clear. The 
introduction of foreign capital, the internationalization of foreign 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



5ULLETIN, 1010, MO. 44 PLATE 5. 




A. LITTLE NURSES CARRYING BABY BROTHERS. 




B. STREET SCENE IN HONGKONG. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919. NO. 44 PLATE 6. 



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BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 7. 




A PAGE FROM A MODERN CHINESE PRIMER. 




BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 8. 




A. Entrance to grounds. 




Ji. Reception HalL 
PROVINCIAL COLLEGE. TSINAN, SHANTUNG. 



EDUCATIONAL NEEDS. 33 

interests in a cooperative spirit with China, and the supervision by 
a league of nations constitute the chief hope at present for China's 
foreign rehitions and even for her Internal development. The funda- 
mental element in all this from the Chinese side is more general edu- 
cation of the people to give the background for progress and the 
training of native leaders upon whom Duist rest the responsibility for 
carrying out in detail such plans as may be formed for the allevia- 
tion of present conditions. In order to determine just what methods 
should be followed, there is at the j) resent time a most important 
function for foreign experts to fill in connection with the develop- 
ment of Cliina. Their Avork is a necessary preliminary, and hence 
it is all important that China seek and use the assistance of such men, 
although it is also true that lier need for such assistance will be tem- 
jDorary, and the application of the remedies which they may suggest 
after a study of the field will still depend upon native talent. 

It is just here that one of the functions of our mission colleges 
in China comes in — to train these leaders in situ, without loss of 
connection with China; for they need to Iqiow China as well as 
western science and institutions and methods. They need to be 
qualified and unselfish, then the five points of tlie compass assumed 
by the Chinese may be rightly adopted — for the north, east, south, 
and west Avill then be centered around the common pole of service 
to China, and from the Provinces to Peking and from Peking to the 
most distant Provinces the people will be united in an efficient, 
peaceful, and helpful State. 

Because of the indemnities imposed on China from time to time 
as a result of the character of her reactions when foreign inter- 
course was forced upon her, and because of the consequent control of 
her customs revenue and of her salt tax, the returns from which 
are pledged for the discharge of these indemnities and for the 
repayment of foreign loans, China is not really independent but is 
subject to a measure of foreign control. The extraterritorial super- 
vision of foreigners resident in China by their respective Govern- 
ments instead of by the Chinese administration, which is not yet 
worthy of tliat confidence, and the condition under wliich railway 
concessions have been granted to foreign capitalists are two other 
aspects of China's international dependence. 

The great need is for such a revision of these relations as to provide 
for cooperation rather than competition in such control. The open- 
door policy needs to be lived up to by all concerned. The map 
should be cleared of the present railway proposals which have often 
been obtained without due regard for the real industrial develop- 
ment of China and they should be replaced b}' a comprehensive 
scheme of railways for the Avhole country, determined purely from 

12t3111°— 10 3 



84 MODERN EDUCA:gIOX IK CHINA. 

economic and engineering consideiations and financed and de\'eloped 
under joint international auspices in close cooperation between the 
powers, including China herself, to whom after a period the roads 
should re\ert under proper condition. 

The five urgent needs are: Cooperation (international and inter- 
nal), capital, organization, native leaders, and regeneration of the 
people. 

To all of these, but especially the last three, the development of 
education is fundamental. 

Certain t^'pes of education demand special attention if China is 
to be prepared adequately to meet even her immediate needs. These 
are the departments of engineering, agriculture, and medicine. 

ENGINEERING. 

The ever-increasing outside demand for China's products makes 
it imperative that she be integrated industrially as well as politically, 
for only by responding adequately to this call of the time for in- 
dustrial development can she retain even that measure of national 
independence which she still possesses and lay the foundation for 
ultimate complete independence. 

Of primary importance in this connection is the more adequate de- 
velopment of better means of communication, railwaj^s, troUe}' lines, 
automobile roads, telegraph and telephone systems, etc. 

This development of communications is not onh' fundamental to 
other industrial development but is of special urgency in China in 
order to permit the more rapid and adequate movement of food sup- 
plies, and so alleviate the famine conditions frequently arising as a 
resvdt of floods. Furthermore, the development of the lines of easier 
transport of both goods and people will serve to unify the peoples 
and bind them together, Avhereas now it is exceedingly difficult for a 
sense of nationhood to be developed among a people so widely sep- 
arated by rivers, mountains, and dialects, with no trunk lines connect- 
ing the north with the south or the east with the west. The existing 
railways are practically confined to the U-ortheastern quarter of the 
country?', and the total in the whole country is a little over G,000 miles, 
Avhereas we are finding our 260,000 miles inadequate for a country of 
the same size. 

It is essential that within China's own borders adequately equipped 
schools should be established in which the Chinese may be tauglit the 
arts and sciences necessary to the development and maintenance of 
such utilities. 

Fundamental to railwaj^ and otiier industrial (le\clopnient is the 
exploitation of the mineral wealth of China, especially that in coah 
oil, and iron, as well as the ore deposits of other metals. Many "big 



EDUCATIONAL ITEED3. 35 

fetatciiients" have been made as to the mineral Avcalth of Chhia, but 
although several ver}- general and inadequate observations have been 
published by foreign travelers qualified to judge, the fact is that 
this class of natural wealth in China has not been really surveyed. It 
iy certainly true that whatever explorations may have been made, as 
undoubtedly several have been, under private foreign auspices and 
for private information, they have not come to public knowledge. 
There has been as yet no geological survey of Chinese dom.mions, 
and the Chinese themselves "have never developed the art of mining 
to an}- great degree. There is urgent need of scientific investigation 
luider China's own auspices of both the general geological structure 
and the specific commercial values. This indicates another class of 
education which is greatly needed by the Chinese. The actual recon- 
naissance would in great part furnish the means of such training in 
a working form. The intellectual processes which would be de- 
Acloped in this work are precisely those which the youth of Cliina 
especially need as a corrective of the traditional neglect of the in- 
ductive method; and the intellectual and even ethical results of a 
thorough investigation of the natural resources of their land, even 
though inspired primarily by economic considerations, would, if car- 
ried out on broad and sound lines, be greater even than the industrial 
and connnercial results. 

Some attempt to meet the need of education in the various lines 
of engineering is being made at Peiyang University, the Government 
university at Peking, the Mming and Engineering College main- 
tained in connection with the Peking-Mukden Eailway at Tangshan 
three horn's east of Tientsin, at the Government Institute of Tech- 
nology at Shanghai, and in a less substantial way at Taiyuan in 
Shansi and at Chengtu in Szechwan. Tliere is also the engineering 
department of Hongkong University, which, however, is strictly 
speaking not in China and can never affect the same result as an in- 
stitution on Chinese soil and under Chinese control. None of theae 
institutions are really adequately equipped or manned in comparison 
with the need for high-gi'ade engineering education, nor are any 
of the mission colleges prepared as yet to render any adequate serv- 
ice in this connection. 

AGRICULTURE. 

The fundamental industry in China is agriculture, some two-thirds 
of the entire population being thus employed: and because the more 
complicated industries based on the mineral resources are so largely 
luideveloped and will be slower in tlieir more adequate improvement, 
the resources of the soil are of special and more immediate im- 
portance. Perhaps the greatest opportunity for industrial improve- 



36 MODEEX EDUCATWON IN CHINA. 

ment in China lies in this department. The methods and the very 
implements are said to be tho same to-day as in 2700 B, C. The 
Chinese agriculturist is an expert intensive gardener, but knows 
little of extensive farming or of the improvement of plants and ani- 
mals by selection and breeding. Moreover, the area under cultiva- 
tion could be greatly increased. The use of the grass lands for cattle 
raising and the development of dairy products as well as a meat 
supply offer a tremendous opportunity. 

With proper organization and administration along these lines of 
education and the development of communications, the land could 
readily support not only the present population with a greater mar- 
gin of livelihood but would even produce raw materials and food- 
stuffs for export in much greater quantities than to-day. 

The afforestation of China\s hillsides is imperative; for at least 
one-sixth of the area of China proper that is the only hope. Be- 
sides the need for fuel and for building timber, tliere is the urgent 
matter of flood prevention by control of rainfall and run-off over 
these hilly and mountainous regions. "Wliile a forestry adviser (an 
American) is employed by the Central Government, it is a ques- 
tion Avhether his advice is adequately followed or whether he is 
given any opportunity to effect the sorely needed improvement. 

Finally there is the great problem of conquering the desert lands. 
Perhaps a twentieth of China proper is so arid and sandy as to 
be put in the desert class, and there are besides the extensive deserts 
in the dependencies of Mongolia and Chinese Turkestan. In view of 
the need to overcome the great deserts of America, Australia, and 
Africa, as well as these in Asia, this proljlem of developing plants 
and methods that will aid in creeping out step by step upon the 
desert instead of allowing the desert to advance upon the present 
habitable areas is of great importance to mankind. To its solution 
the Chinese, if trained in scientific lines and imbued Avith the scien- 
tific spirit, will be no mean contributors. 

All these considerations emphasize the need for agricultural edu- 
cation in China not only for China's benefit but also for that of the 
■world at large. 

The Central Government has undertaken the development of 
a School of Agriculture and Forestry in Peking, and a few of the 
Provinces have local experiment stations with some attempt at in- 
struction. In two Provinces, Shantung and Szechwan, a large num- 
ber of so-called agricultural schools are reported in the Educational 
Directory of 1918, no less than 67 and 17, respectively: but it is to 
be feared that these as well as the other 8 Government agricul- 
tural schools reported for other Provinces are of inadequate grade 
and attainment. The institutions under missionary auspices which 
lead in this work are the Nanking University and Canton Christian 



EDUCATIONAL NEEDS. 37 

College, where courses of collegiate grade both theoretical and prac- 
tical are offered in the various phases of agi'icultural education. 
It is encouraging to note how popular these courses are. There is no 
limit to the opportunity for effective service in this department 
cxcej^t that imposed by lack of funds. 

MEDICINE. 

Disease is rife throughout China and the death rate is probably 
liigher than in any other country. The mental power and economic 
efficiency of the nation as a whole is thereby greatly lessened. The 
predominant diseases are tuberculosis, hookworm, and syphilis, while 
cholera and bubonic plague rage at times, the latter especially in the 
south. Famine is frequent in both north and south owing to devas- 
tation by floods or destruction b}'^ drought. 

Unhygienic conditions are somewhat offset by the fact that un- 
cooked food is rarely eaten and the customary drink is weak tea made 
with boiling water. A 2:>ublic health service is almost unknown and 
therefore smallpox, tuberculosis, and leprosy go practically un- 
checked. The outbreak and spread of bubonic plague in 1910-11, 
however, aroused the Government, and some measure of a preventive 
service has been established. The autopsies permitted during this 
epidemic led to the official authorization for autopsies and dissection 
throughout China beginning November, 1913; but full advantage of 
this new and important privilege can only be had gradually. 

From very ancient times China has had her own practitioners of 
the healing art, and there is' quite a volume of Chinese materia 
medica. Quinine, for instance, is well known and widely used, and in- 
oculation for smallpox has long been practiced. There is a very 
thriving business to-day in patent medicines, among Avhieh, unfortn- 
nately, certain foreign concoctions predominate; and through some, 
sent in largely from Japan, the morphia habit is all too readily as- 
suming the role formerly played by opium. There is no legal control 
of the practice of medicine in China. The Chinese old-style practi- 
tioner has no knowledge of surgery. 

Private practitioners of western methods are for the most part 
confined to the treaty j)orts; among them are a few Americans or 
Europeans but more Japanese, mostly of inferior training. There 
are perhaps 60 or 70 Chinese modern physicians educated in Europe 
or America, but most of these work in hospitals or medical schools, 
not as practitioners. There are a few graduates from missionary 
medical schools who are now practicing, but there have been to date 
probably less than 160 such graduates and many of them are working 
in mission hospitals or medical schools. On the whole, then, out- 
side the mission hosj^itals and outside the treaty ports there are very 



38 MODERX EDUCATION IX CHIjS^'A. 

few practitioners in China who have had any training in western 
medicine and almost none who have been adequate!}' trained. 

The first liospital in China was established in Canton nnder Ameri- 
can missionary auspices in 1835. The first Government hospital was 
inaugurated at Tientsin as late as 1904 under army auspices. The 
only hospital for the insane in all China is also in Canton and main- 
tained by American missionaries. Although medical instruction be- 
gan decades ago in an informal and inadequate way in connection 
with the mission hospitals, medical schools even under missionary 
auspices are of only recent development, mostly since 1908. 

A dozen medical schools under Protestant missions, with a total 
foreign staff of 80 and a modern-trained Chinese staff of 30, look 
after some COO students, of whom less than a hundred are women. 
Two-thirds of all the medical and also educational Avork in China un- 
der Protestant missionary auspices is conducted bA- Americans, 
Some 250 American physicians and 90 nurses, aided by 20 Chinese 
physicians (modern trained) and 400 assistants and 600 nurses, attend 
annually some '2.300,000 patients. The value of this medical work in 
removing prejudice can not l)e overstated, not to speak of its real 
humanitarian value as such, which appeals to the Chinese suffi- 
ciently to draw contributions of some $500,000 Chinese currency an- 
nually for the support of medical work under American auspices. 
The chief centers for this hospital and educational work are JSlukden, 
Peking, Tsinan, Chengtu. Hankow, Changsha, Xanking, Hangchow, 
Shanghai, Foochow, and Canton. The foreign staff of a missionary 
medical school ranges from 4 to 14, the investment in plant from 
10,000 to $210,000 each, and the annual cost of maintenance from 
$10,000 to $50,000. The number of graduates is small, totaling to 
date about 100 ; tuition is low, $100 Chinese currency, or less. 

The Central Govermnent maintains two medical schools, one in 
Peking and one in Tientsin in connection with the army. Pro- 
vincial medical schools have been attempted at Tientsin, Wuchang, 
Nanchang. Soochow, and Canton, perhaps elsewhere also, but except 
at Tientsin they have not amounted to much. Except the Peij'ang 
Medical School at Tientsin they are largely under Japanese influ- 
ence. This Peiyang Medical School, which must be distinguished 
from the Peiyand Military Medical College also at Tientsin, gives 
probably the best medical instruction of any Government institution. 
It is the outgrowth of the work of Dr. John Kenneth McKenzie, of 
the London Missionary Society, whose skill attracted the attenjtion of 
Li Hung Chang when he was^ Viceroy of Chihli. It is now officially 
recognized and supported as a Government institution. Recently it 
has had on its staff' three French professors, supplied by the French 
Government. All instruction is in English. 



EDUCATIONAL jS^EEDS. 39 

In Xoveniber, 1012, the ministry of education issued outlines and 
regulations for " special medical colleges." These are meant to cor- 
respond to the schools in Japan similarly designated ; a four-years' 
course, for Avhich the curricula must be approved by the Board of 
Education, though the school may be developed under private 
auspices. Such are being conducted at Xanchang, Wuchang and 
Canton where there are tTvo, althougli one of them is largely inspired 
by and dependent on the efforts of two iVmerican physicians. 

The total enrollment in these Government and special medical 
schools is. about 700, All of them lack access to satisfactory hos- 
pitals for clinical instruction. 

There could be no greater force for the regeneration of China 
than an adequate corps of well-trained Chinese women physicians 
inspired with high ideals of character and service. Yet there are 
but three institutions under missionary auspices, and but one under 
Chinese auspices where any attempt is made to provide women with 
medical education, and all of these are small, poorly equipped, under- 
staffed and ill-prepared to train competent physicians. Of course, 
the girls of China lack as yet adequate preliminary education, but 
this condition is improving. There is of course great need for high 
grade nurses as well as phj'^sicians. Even from the existing schools, 
the oldest of which dates from 1900, there are but a hundred, 
graduates all told, and most of them could not rank as independent 
practitioners. 

Besides the missionary medical schools there are a few schools 
under foreign semigovernment auspices, inspired probably by 
motives of political policy. At Mukden, the Japanese have inau- 
gurated a promising school with a staff of 20. At Tsingtau and at 
Shanghai, the Germans had begun the preliminary stages of modern 
medical schools when the war stopped their progress. At Canton 
the French conduct a hospital and medical school, with three physi- 
cians detached from tlie French Army ; but it is entirely inadequate 
as a teaching institution. 

Xo medical school in China is adequately equipped and none is 
adequately manned, though some include on their staff most excel- 
lent men who aim at high standards and are following sound policies. 
The whole aspect of this problem has been modified within the last 
few years by the entrance into the field of the Cliina Medical Board 
of the Eockefeller Foundation, who have stinmlated real progress by 
giving aid under proper conditions to a nuuiber of hospitals through- 
out the country, by affording opportunities for further training and 
research to a number of missionary physicians when on furlough and 
to a number of Chinese graduates in modern medicine, by assisting 
in the development of more adequate premedical courses at Chang- 
sha, Shanghai, and Foochow in connection with existing institutions. 



40 MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

by strengthening greatly the medical school of Shangtung Christian 
University where the medium of instruction is Mandarin, and by the 
reorganization of the Union Medical College at Peking, where the 
medium of instruction is English. In connection with this last insti- 
tution a premedical faculty has also been provided, and for the hos- 
j)ital and medical schools very extensive buildings are now in course 
of construction at a cost of several million dollars gold. 

A large medical faculty is being provided and their work will 
without doubt greatly affect medical standards throughout the land 
in due course. But in view of the great need for adequately manned 
hospitals all over tlie land, and for qualified private practitioners, 
only the surface of the problem has been touched. 

The China Medical Board proposes in due time to establish a simi- 
lar plant and staff at Shanghai. South China, properly speaking, 
is still neglected, although the region of Canton is especially rich in 
clinical material of all sorts, particularly of certain tropical dis- 
eases. The medical school of Hongkong University which is not on 
Chinese soil, charges very high fees and does not have a whole-time 
faculty, but is manned almost entirely by physicians whose chief con- 
cern is their private practice. These reasons, especially in view of 
the natural attitude of the Cantonese toward an institution wholly 
.under British control and on British soil, make it extremel}^ desirable 
to develop in Canton a medical school of the highest grade under 
joint missionary and Chinese auspices. The time is ripe, if only ade- 
quate funds are made available. No greater oppoitunity for effective 
philanthropic investment can be found in China than noAv offers in 
connection with medical work at Canton where 90 years ago such 
work entered China, and yet where existing institutions to-day are 
not adequate to the situation. 



IV. CAUSES OF BACKWARDNESS. 

The fundamental element in the three types of education just dis- 
cussed is, of course, natural science in its many branches, and this 
involves the realm of ideas most in contrast with the content of 
Chinese education of the old type. But even more fundamental than 
the difference in content is the difference in method and attitude, for 
it is here that the major causes of China's backwardness in science 
are discovered. 

ABSENCE OF THE INDUCTIVE METHOD. 

" Method '' is the distinguishing characteristic of modern science, 
or more specifically " inductive method."' This has been almost com- 
pletely lacking among the Chinese, whose philosophers have pre- 
ferred a priori deduction, and given greater weight to analogy. 

Western teachers of C-hinese students are constantly impressed 
with their readiness to argue by illustration and to accept a single 
illustration as proof; not that they consider that a single exception 
to a rule invalixlates its generality, but that from a single case a 
general iaw^ can be deduced. This is well shown by the following 
reply which Avas made hj a college freshman in his geometry ex- 
amination to the question : " What is a locus?"' the class having spent 
a due proportion of the term on loci problems. He was by no means 
an unskillful logician from the Chinese point of view, though he 
may have lacked geometrical perception, when he answered "A 
locus is a straight line all the points of which arc equally distant 
from the two sides." For he was simply attempting to put in gen- 
eralized form the first case of a locus which the class had studied, 
viz, that the perpendicular bisector of a straight line is the locus 
of all points (in the plane of the two lines) equally distant from 
the extremities of that line. 

The method of the Chinese philosophers was a priori, and it 
seems that they adopted this course, not through ignorance of the 
experimental method, but from choice. The maxim of Confucius 
that " knowledge comes from the study of things *" could not be more 
out of place than it is in his pages. The Chinese claim that their 
sage wrote a treatise on the experimental study of nature, but that 
it was lost; and thus they explain the backAvardness of theii- country 

in experimental sciences. 

41 



42 MODERX EDUC.y:iOX IX CHIKx\. 

Practical as the Chinese confessedly are, it is rather remarkable 
that in the study of nature their philosophers have made practi- 
cally no use of the inductive method, though it appears that some 
of them at least had glimpses of its virtue as early as 500 years 
before Bacon. In the writings of the brothers Cheng there is the 
following question and answer: 

One asked Avhether, to arrive at a knowledge of nature, it is neces- 
sary to investigate each particular object; or may not some one thing 
be seized upon from which the knoAvledge of many things may be 
derived. 

The master replied : " A comprehensive knowledge of nature is not 
so easily ac(}uired. You must examine one thing to-day and an- 
other thing to-morrow, and when you have accumulated a store of 
facts your knowledge will burst its shell and come forth into fuller 
light, connecting all the particulars by general laws." 

We say they had glimpses of the virtue of the inductive method, 
for it is hardly to be asserted that a philosopher reall}' appreciated 
a method which neither he nor his disciples practiced but merely 
spoke of once. Contrast with the quotation just given this saying 
of Chang, the second of the five great thinkers of the Sung dynasty : 

" To know nature, you must first know Heaven. If you have 
pushed your science so far as to know Heaven, then you are at the 
source of all things. Knowing their evolution you can tell what 
ought to be, and what ought not to be, without waiting for anyone 
to inform j^ou," 

Between these two dicta we see the parting of the ways — one lead- 
ing only to a maze of hazy unverified and unverifiable speculations, 
the other destined to bring anj' philosopher who followed it into 
the presence of valid generalizations based on observation; and we 
see the sages of Cliina choosing the wrong pathway, vainly seeking 
a short cut to universal knowledge by following what they con- 
sidered b}' the light of inner reasoning to be the order of nature, 
instead of laboriously studying one thing at a time in order to 
connect " all the particulars by general laws." Had her early thinkers 
taken the suggestion of the Chengs as their guiding star, China 
might to-day be the dean, instead of the most backward pupil in 
the school of science. 

SPIRIT OF INACCURACY. 

xV spirit of inaccuracy or of indefiniteness, of being satisfied with 
very approximate statements, as well as with assumptions instead of 
proofs and of generalizing from a single case, is most prevalent and 
will only be dispelled by the spread of modern education. There is 
no more vexing factor in the life of a foroimier in China than the 



CAUSES OF BACKWAKDXESS. 43 

litter lack of accuracy aniono- the Chinese in most matters involvin^if 
iiuinerical rehitions. The ordinary troubles that one has with careles:i 
and even dishonest Avorknicn and contractors are enhanced manyfold 
bv reason of the discrepancies between the various measures used for 
different purposes though called by the same name. The histor}' of 
the method by which the units were adopted and fixed is lost in an- 
tiquity, and the variations in the measures now used destroj?^ any 
claim that there ever was among them a true standard such as those 
recognized and employed by western peoples to-day. For instance, 
the chill or unit of length differs according to the province and the 
prefecture, the city and the ward, the craft and the usage. There are 
over 100 different values of the chili actuall}^ in use. Some of these 
are doubtless derived from ancient official chih, but the majority seem 
rather to be due to caprice of custom. The variations are by no 
means small, the extreme values differing on the average by more 
than 6 inches in a unit of approximately 14 inches. In some places 
the carpenter's foot rule is 11.14 inches long, whereas the mason's 
rule is as short as 10.9 inches, so that in a building 100 feet long, if 
this difference were not realized by the architect, and he furnished 
the same specifications in Chinese measure to masons and carpenters, 
the frame of the house would overhang; the stone foundations by 2 
feet. In most cloth shops there is one measuring rod to use in buy- 
ing and another to use in selling; and it does not take a Solon to tell 
which is the shorter. The maker of measuring sticks or of balance 
rods keeps a stock of ungraduated blanks and will insert the brass 
points to suit the wishes of his customer. Xearly every householder 
has his own set for checking again against those of itinerant vendors 
of dry goods and foodstuffs. 

The distance between two points A and B, according to Chinese 
representation, depends not merely on the geometrical factor, but on 
others that determine the relative facility of travel between these 
points. It is farther from A to B than from B to A if B is up- 
stream from A on a river, or at a greater elevation on a hill road. 
It is farther between A and B at night or when raining than it is by 
day or when clear. While, of course, the practical philosophy of 
this way of regarding distance is evident, it still is true that such 
failure to separate these factors from the geometrical factor in the 
form of statement operates to retard appreciation of accurate state- 
ment and accurate thinking. 

Paper may be sold by the hundred sheets; and yet by a desire to 
keep the stated cost per hundred uniform in spite of variations in 
quality, the dealer will "call" a less mnnber of sheets a hundred 
sheets, so that when I requested niy servant to buy a hundred sheets 
of a certain paper he returned with 80 and insisted that " in that 
kind of paper a hundred sheets are only 80." 



44 MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

The traditional unscientific and nnquantitative attitude toward 
business was w^ell illustrated in the founding of the Hanyang Iron 
Works, for Chang Chih-tung when he ordered from abroad the 
machinery for China's first modern iron works, not only did not know 
where he was going to locate the plant, but he did not know what 
type of ore it would have to handle, for no ore had been discovered. 
"When he ordered the machinery he was stationed in Canton, and 
when it reached China he had been transferred to Wuchang, and 
it was pure good luck that ore suitable for the type of plant he had 
ordered was actually discovered below Hankow and a good coal mine 
found above. 

Although a first impression of China and the Chinese may be that 
of deadening uniformity, it takes but a little closer observation to 
show that this is just the opposite of the truth. Along with the 
manifold divergencies in speech and customs, which play a para- 
mount part in the life of the people, and which by a common saying 
do not run uniform for 10 li (3 miles) together, there is a like di- 
versity In those standards of quantity upon the absolute invariability 
of which so much of the comfort of life and the entire advance of 
science in western land depends. So far from sulfering any incon- 
venience In the existence of a double standard of any kind, the 
oriental seems keenly to enjoy it, and two kinds of v/eights, or two 
kinds of measures seem to him natural and normal, and modern edu- 
cation is only just beginning to open his eyes to the inlierent 
objections. 

The whole Chinese system of thinking is based on such a different 
line of assumptions from those to which we are accustomed, that 
they can ill comprehend the mania which seems to possess the 
occidental to ascertain everything with unerring accuracy. Cu- 
riously enough, concomitant with the early development of their 
system of weights and measures — a decimal system for the most 
part — the Chinese have become fixed in the habit of reckoning by 
tens, and frequently refuse to make a statement of number nearer 
to the truth than a multiple of 10. An old man is " 70 or 80 years 
of age " when you know for a certainty that he was 70 only a year 
ago. A few people are " 10 or 20, " a " few tens, " or perhaps " ever 
so many tens. " The same vagueness runs in all their statements, 
and for greater accuracy than this the Chinese do not care, except 
when you are paying them money. 

The first generation of Chinese chemists will probably lose " a few 
tens " of its number as a result of the process of mixing a " few tens 
of gi^ains " of something with " several tens of grains " of something 
else, the consequence being an unanticipated explosion. 

The Chinese are as capable of learning minute accuracy in all 
things as any nation ever was — nay, more so, for they are endowed 



CAUSES OF BACKWARDNESS. 45 

Avith infinite patience, but the point here is that as at present consti- 
tuted they are entirely' free from the quality of accuracy and that 
they do not laiow what it means except as they come under modern 
education. 

FIVE OTHER CAUSES. 

Another cause of Cliina's backwardness in modern science is to be 
found in the lack of mathematical knowledge, or the failure to apply 
it. Even though Chinese philosophers early made most remarkable 
independent advances, especially in algebra, the knowledge of mathe- 
matics is to-day very small among Chinese scholars except where 
they have recently been under foreign instruction. 

The language difficulty has already been sufficiently outlined. The 
old system of education quenched the spirit of inquiry and neglected 
to include knowledge of science as a requirement for political prefer- 
ment, which was the end of all education. The influence of astrolo- 
gers, fortune tellers, and geomancers was reinforced by the official 
indifference regarding popular education so long as the Government 
felt that its own security depended somewhat upon the upholding of 
ancient superstitions and references, an attitude which fortunately 
has now seen its day even in China. 

OUTLOOK. 

A more widespread contact with translations of western books is 
slowly but surely bringing the reading Chinese into a fuller apprecia- 
tion of western or more scientific thinking. Their increasing famil- 
iarity Avith the inventions and methods of the West is undermining 
their superstition, as is, also, the spread of Christian theolog3^ 

The changes in the method of instruction and the sj^^stem of educa- 
tion are for the most part tending to develop a spirit of inquiry and 
an appreciation of the inductive method, which is beginning to yield 
due fruit. When the influence of returned students who have been 
adquately trained in western countries and that of the graduates 
from first-class mission and Government colleges becomes more po- 
tent, we may expect to see a much more rapid development of the 
educational system, but here again the magnitude of the undertaking 
and the difficulties as to efficient teaching force and adequate re- 
sources are such that only natives can achieve the ultimate solution. 
We teachers from abroad can hardly expect to do moi-e than to give 
the impulse and to help in the preparation of the vanguard of such 
an advance. 

"^^Hien special and general education has proceeded far enough to 
provide the trained men needed to make the various adjustments in- 
volved in the tremendously complex renaissance of this nation and 
to have provided the background of an enlightened people, there will 



46 MODER]^ EDUCA'iriON liST CHINA. 

of a surety be found among Chinese students many who will desire to 
follow the torch of learning and of truth for its own sake, some of 
whom will attain a high degree of analytical power and experimental 
skill, for the Chinese after all are capable of exact and careful 
thought under right conditions, and moreover possess unusual pa- 
tience and manual skill. The Chinese have a power of application 
and a capacity for detail that is destined to bring success in scientific- 
inquiry when once they get the background, adopt the method, and 
make the start. 

The irresistible progress destined to be made by western science 
among the Chinese will surely undermine their faith in the Book of 
Changes, which is at the base of Chinese philosophy. Whatever is 
permanently true will remain in imperishable blocks, but the struc- 
ture as a whole will fall in ruins, with Chinese ideals pitilessly and 
irrevocably shattered. At this critical period of the disintegration of 
outworn forces, what new moral and spiritual ideas are to replace the 
old in order that the new state of these people ma}- not bo worse 
than the first ? 

Mere education in the science of the west, mere contact with west- 
ern civilization, commerce, railways, telegraphs, mines, etc., can not 
be expected and are not calculated to regenerate China, because they 
have no direct moral or spiritual value, and the Chinese tseem ncAer to 
havo been profoundly moved by other than moral and spiritual forces. 

Education which deals only with coordinated physical or mental 
facts, conducted however thoroughly, does not prove adequate for the 
regulation of the conduct of mankind. It is so largely intellectual 
that it leaves man's highest nature unsatisfied and almost untouched; 
therefore, it is imperative in the present intellectual and material 
awakening that the more subtle forces which will profoundly aifect 
the soul of the race should be fostered side by side with these others. 

At the siime time care must be taken to avoid repetition of the 
unwarranted conflict between science and religion. Our instruction 
must be such that these two departments are not regarded as 
antagonistic, but as supplementary, not only in affecting daily life 
and conduct, but supplementary, also, as revelations of the char- 
acter and purposes of God. We must, also, avoid the tendency to 
impose a S3"stein Avhicli is the outgrowth of western civilization 
without due legard for the oriental character and mode of thinking. 

Much of the prejudice against missionary work has doubtless been 
due to its connection in many instances with an irrational dogmatism 
which happily has been and is being largely eliminated by the 
broadening of education. Missionar}^ education should be, and in 
several institutions already is, characterized by the broadest possible 
horizon, adapted to China's present situation, yet with distinct refer- 
ence to her future welfare and that of the world as influenced by 



CAUSES OF BACKWARDNESS, 47 

her; Avith the utmost care it looks to the moral development of the 
people, for such faults as the Chinese have can be eradicated by 
education in the broadest sense of that term. Both the strength and 
the weakness of China emphasize the necessity of bringing to bear 
upon the nation those influences which will align her on the side 
\\orking for the higher development of the whole human race. 

The wide diffusion of Christianity in its best form will not sud- 
denly introduce tlie millennimn into China, for all intermediate 
stages must be passed through before the goal is reached, but it will 
for the first time in Chinese history realize the motto of the ancient 
Tang i^peated so impressively in more recent days by Chang Chi 
Tung • " Regenerate, regenerate the people. '' Thus alone can the 
country be adapted to the altered conditions brought about by the 
impact of western thought. Christianity has been tried as yet upon 
a small scale onl,y, but has already brought forth fruit after its 
kind. When it shall have been thoroughly tested and have had 
opportunity to develop its potentialities in a manner specially 
adapted to the situation, it will gi\e to China intellectually, morally, 
and spiritually the long-sought for elixir of a new life. 

CONTRADICTORY CHARACTERISTICS. 

In reviewing the faults and virtues of this remarkable people, 
one realizes that they possess or exhibit strangely contradictory 
characteristics, at least contradictory as we of the west view them, 
tliough I am mindful that often the oriental, especially the Chinese, 
sees no contradiction between ideas or ideals which we may consider 
mutually exclusive. 

Ingenious in small things, thej^ rarel}^ carry their inventions in 
any direction to its natural sequel. Eesponsible for some of the 
best of early achievements in applied arts, they have made no great 
inventions in recent centuries. 

As a nation they present the greatest example of persistence, 
while as individuals they are often singularh' lacking in this qual- 
ity. They show gi^eat economy in use of materials, but are very 
Avasteful of time and energy. They build but do not repair. 

Kind-hearted and in general considerate of animals in deference 
to Buddhistic teachings, allowing even snakes to live, they let men 
die of starvation by the roadside and seklom make heroic efforts to 
save endangered lives; in hard times the lower classes even sell their 
children to be slaves. 

So drilled in usage of the past, they continue in old ways even 
when the reason for that way has long since ceased. So conscious 
of their obligation to the past, they are comparatively indifferent 
to the claims of the community in which they themselves are living 
and have little idea of passing on to the future with interest what 



48 MODERN EDUCATlOlSr IN CHINA. 

they liave received from the past. They spend vast sums in reverence 
to ancestors, but destroy the forests that would safeguard their own 
descendants. They practice early marriage and polygamy for the 
sake of progeny, and yet impoverish their posterity. The nation 
which of all now extant has shown the greatest power of persis- 
tence, has nevertheless made the least provision for its own future. 
This outstanding result of ancestor worship and ^he all-pervading 
practice of " squeeze '' are the two paramount evils of Chinese life. 
Serious as these faults are and slow in their removal, they can be 
overcome by a type of education that will develop the scientific 
spirit, higher moral ideas, especially a regard for the community 
and the future, and greater strength of character; in short, the 
highest type of modern education Avhich while training the student 
for effective service will also spiritualize his motives in life. This 
is, indeed, the high aim many of our American missionary colleges 
are fulfilling to the extent of their ability. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



5ULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 9. 



ilii^^Til^ ■ « « •« m i aiaiirtfi 

Hull ■•»« iitifiiiiyif iis ^^»" 



•pt. 



ffl 8I( 




^. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SHANGHAI. 




B. MODERN NORMAL SCHOOL ON SITE OF ANCIENT EXAMINATION HALLS, 

CANTON. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 10. 




A. Students of college grade. 




Ji. Girls of the secondary school. 
CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 11. 




A. Panorama from the river. 




B. Grant Hall. 
CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 44 PLATE 12. 




A. Class in animal husbandry. 



t t 





^■iniiiiiEiiiiMiiii 

aft. t ■=<,j6t_.u5HL, 3KL. .^BE^ 



•litdt i itittita • •Ottilia liiiijtttii/ 

ffft^ffiltftfllfifiif^ 



vv«fl 



Bi 



ii. Secondary school students before Martin Hall. 
CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. 



V. MISSION SCHOOLS. 
THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE CHINA. 

Although the first modern scliools in Cliina were begun under mis- 
sion auspices and some of the best educational institutions to-day 
are under mission auspices, the education of the Chinese is not the 
problem of the mission boards; it is China's own problem. But in 
view of tlie immensity of the Government's task, the missions have 
an unprecedented opportunity to render a real service to China. In 
vicAv of the disturbed political conditions ever since the revolution of 
1911. the governmental effort at providing general education has, 
Avith a few exceptions, been ver}- ineffective. The mission schools 
have even a greater opportunity to-day to help mold the educational 
system of China than was even thought possible in 1911 when such 
a new spurt was taken under the First Republic in educational mat- 
ters, the most marked since the eventful day in 1905 when a stroke 
of the Imperial pen abolished the old system of literary examinations 
and called for the establishment of modern schools throughout the 
land. 

As already indicated, the great handicaps in the Government's edu- 
cational work are the lack of funds, the lack of qualified teachers, 
and the lack of honest and progressive administrators. An adequate 
appreciation of the function of education and the precise adjustment 
of the type attempted to the needs of the community and of the 
nation are aLso still to be achieved. It is for these reasons that mission 
institutions have had and are still to have a very great share in 
shaping the course of China's educational development. 

After several decades of diffused and experimental service, which, 
however, has been of great value and was even a necessary prelim- 
inary, the Protestant missions are aiming to furnish China with a 
thoroughly standardized and coordinated system of Christian educa- 
tion, emphasizing quality rather than quantity, so as to provide 
educated leadership in the various professions and vocations, and 
an intelligent and reasonably educated church membership and 
trustworthy citizenship who w^ill constructively influence their com- 
liumity life. This is serving as a challenge and a corrective to the 
national schools of similar grade. 

PROGRESS OF MISSIONARY OCCUPATION. 

Missionary occupation of China may be regarded as covering six 
'stages: From 1807 to 1860 it was confined to the coast, mostly the 
southern half of the coast, the beginning having been made at Canton. 
126111°— 19 4 49 



50 MODERlSr EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

From 1861 to 1877 the eastern third of tlie country was more or less 
general]}' covered. From 1878 to 1890 the missionaries were pretty 
generally distributed, except in Hunan, Kweichow, and Kwangsi. 
During 1871 to 1900 the occupation became quite general, though, of 
course, with considerable variations. From 1901 to 1910 the increase 
was most marked in the middle third of the countr^^ divided longi- 
tudinally. From 1911 to 1917 there has been a movement of concen- 
tration to fewer centers farly evenly distributed, except in the far 
corners northwest and southwest.^ 

STATISTICS OF MISSION SCHOOLS. 

Out of a total of 6,000 Protestant missionaries, some 4,800 are 
Americans. a)id of these some 1.500 are engaged in educational work, 
which includes two-thirds of all the educational work at present 
under way in China under Protestant auspices. Unfortunately the 
statistics of Catholic work are not available, though there are many 
French, German, and Belgian Catholic missions, and a few American 
priests who work under one or the other of these missions. Generally 
speaking, the Catholic missions are not so ambitious from a purely 
educational point of view, though they are fairly strong on indus- 
trial work connected with the production of church fixtures and 
furnishings, and some of the best scientific work ever done in China, 
both in former and in recent years, has been under French Catholic 
auspices. 

Protestant missions in China, besides their uiedical work, conducted 
in 1917-18 115 kindergartens; 5,276 lower elementary schools; 575 
higher elementary: 23-3 middle or high schools; 28 colleges; 15(5 
normal and training schools; 31 theological schools; 40 industrial 
schools, and 49 orphanages — a total of 1,227 institutions, with a 
teaching force of 1,471 foreigners (831 of them Avomen) and 9,595 
Chinese (2,783 of them women), and a total enrollment of 170,659 
students (54.461 of them girls) distributed as follows: 3,196 kinder- 
garten; 133.826 in lower elementary; 19,605 in higher elementary; 
12.533 in middle school; 1,499 in college; 1,409 in industrial: 985 
theological : and 1,544 in orphanages. 

The proportion of female students is highest in the elementary 
grades Avhere they are about one to two. and in the normal school 
where they outnumber the males nearly two to one. But in middle 

1 As a forco working for tho modernization of China, tlionsli not al\>'ays in a manner 
most to be clesirpcl, wo r.liould mention also the many foreign mereiiants and consular 
and diplomatic officers, who, however, are practically confined to the HO-oild treaty 
ports. There are probably 150,000 Japanese, or more than all the other foreigners taken 
together. Next are the Russians, who number perhaps 50,000, whereas 10,000 will prob- 
ably cover the Brilis?i (not counting Hongkong), and 8,000 will cover the Americans, 
who have greatly increased in recent years, while of French and of Germans (until the 
war unsettled everything) there would likely be some 4,000 each, with perhaps less 
than 5,000 of other foreign nationalities combined. 



MISSION SCHOOLS. 61 

schools the ratio is 1 girl to 5 boys, while in actual college grades the 
ratio is 1 to 22. There is as yet no institution under Government 
auspices where a girl can get instruction of collegiate gi-ade, and 
only three, probably two, of really collegiate grade under mission 
auspices. 

While complete data are not available, it seems likely that these 
ratios between female and male students would probably hold good, 
roughly speaking, for Government schools as well as missionary. 

. THE SYSTEM OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

The system of Christian education, ranging from kindergarten to 
university, is widely spread throughout the country, and culminates 
in the strategic centers to be mentioned presently. There are nine 
local Christian educational associations covering from one to three 
provinces each, and in turn affiliated with the Christian Educational 
Association of China with headquarters in Shanghai. 

A relativelj' .small portion of the population of China is found in 
the cities. Nine-tenths of the population live in the country or in 
relatively small aggregates, some in isolated homes, but generally 
clustered in hamlets and villages. These afford a smaller working 
nnit than is usual in many other countries, and are the natural basis 
ui:>on which to start in tlie education of the common people of China, 
whereas the training of the leaders for that more general educational 
conquest can best be done near the largest cities. 

Although the great bulk of missionary education is still in the 
elementary and secondary grades, in more recent time a number of 
schools of college grade have been developed, nine even assuming the 
title of university, though the validity of such a claim nuiy be 
questioned. 

The strategic points at which mission colleges are located and 
Government institutions also are concentrated are as follows : 

From south to north through the eastern provinces. Canton, Foo- 
chow, Shanghai, and the neighboring cities of Hangchow, Soochow, 
and Nanking (all of which are connected with Shanghai by rail), 
Tsinan, Tientsin, and Peking. Up the Yangtsze 650 miles is the 
educational center of Wuchang and Hankow, which is the Chicago 
and Pittsburgh of China combined, being the intersection of the main. 
trunk lines of traffic, and is the center of a great coal and iron region. 
South from Hankow is situated Changsha, the capital of Hunan 
Province, the last to be open to foreign influence, and here Yale main- 
tains an educational and medical mission. In the far west at 
Chengtu, the capital of the great province of Szechwan, there is the 
beginning of a college which has one of the brightest prospects in all 
China. 



52 MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

Of -20 colleges, in some of which the bulk of the work is still of 
high-school grade, 10 are maintained as "union" institutions by 
several denominational boards cooperating, while two are strictly 
nonsectarian though Christian. These are Yali or the College of 
Yale at Changsha, the capital of the last province to be opened to 
foreigners, and Canton Christian College, which may in a w^ay bo 
regarded as an intercollegiate mission, since eight American institu- 
tions maintain each a I'epresentative on the faculty of this school in 
distant China as a part of the foreign work of their Student Chris- 
tian Association or other special organization,^ Curiously enough, 
both of these institutions have had a remarkable degree of financial 
support from the Chinese; in the case of Yali this has taken the 
form of a definite cooperative basis, while at Canton money, both 
for building and for running expenses, has been turned over un- 
conditionally to the trustees of the college incorporated in New York. 

Since the most striking features of the recent development of mod- 
ern education in China under Christian auspices are nearly all well 
illustrated in the ease of Canton Christian College, and are naturally 
better known to us in detail, we shall present a brief account of this 
institution as an example. 

1 These are: University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State College, Teachers Col- 
lege of Columbia University, Vassar College, Williams College, University of Pittsburgh, 
Kansas State Agricultural College, and Washington and Lee University. 



APPENDIX A. 

CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. 

The history of the Canton Christian College fulls naturally into three periods: 
Inception, 18S4-1903 ; organization, 11)04-1918; and realizati(»n, 1919 and 
beyond. 

The embryonic stage began with the conception iu 18S4 on the part of two 
far-sighted members of the American I'resbyterian Mission at Canton (Rev. 
B. C. Henry and Dr. A. P. Ilapper), that there should be established under 
Christian auspices a college of high standard to serve South China. In 1885, 
Dr. Happer raised in America an initial fund of approximately $100,000, a 
very large sum in those days for higher education in China. 

On his return to Canton Dr. Happer received a remarkable petition signed 
by no less than 400 Chinese, including prominent othcials, scholars, gentry, and 
merchants of Kwangtung Province, urging that the project be carried forward 
as rapidly as possible, so as to satisfy a long-felt want. 

Tlie trustees were incorporated as of "The Christian College in China," under 
the regents of the University of the State of New York in 1893 and for a time 
owned the property and carried on the boys' school of the Presbyterian Mis- 
sion at Canton, pending decision as to the permanent location of the proposed 
higher institution. In response to a petition in 1898 signed by 54 pastors, 
licentiates, teachers, and elders of all denominations in and near Canton urging 
that the college be maintained in Canton to serve the diurch as a whole, the 
trustees finally determined to secure a permanent site in the vicinity of this 
ancient "City of Rams,'' the largest non-Christian city in the world. In 1899 
a separate school w^as started on a wholly undenominational basis w^hich was 
moved to Macao during the Boxer distui'bances and remained there four years 
Avhile the small rice fields, bamboo groves, ponds, and innumerable grave plots 
near Canton on which the college could be built, were gradually acquired. 

The period of organization began with the occupation in 1904 of the present 
site on the north shore of the island of Honam, 2* miles east of 
the center of Canton City, the metropolis of Kwangtung Province wdiich is 90 
miles from Hongkong, one of the great ports of the world. In anticipation of 
this fixing of site, the corporate name had been amended in 1903 to be "Canton 
Christian College." 

Perhaps the most striking feature of the institution since 1904 has been the 
rapidity of its gi'owth. The campus has increased from 20 acres to over 180; 
the two long wooden bungalows, which provided temporary shelter for the 
whole institution in the first years, are now supplemented not only by a score 
of other temporary bui'dings. many of which are of brick, but by 27 permanent 
fire-resisting and ant-proof buildings, with 3 more in course of construc- 
tion today. The student body has grown from 60 to 600 and the staff from 
6 Americjins and 6 Chinese to 31 Americans, 2 British, and 51 (/liinese (not 
counting wives who do not teach). The butlget of current expenses has risen 
from $20,000 Hongkong currency to over $200,000 annually. Only one element 

53 



54 MODERN EDUa^IOX IN CHINA. 

has failed to grow, the all-important item or endowment; there was none in 
1904 and there is practically none in 1919. 

Half of the budget for current expenses is met by student fees and rentals; 
the remainder must be secured each year from generous individuals or sup- 
poiting groups, Chinese or American. The investment at the college to date 
is about as follows: Grounds $80,000, buildings $350,000, equipment $35,000, 
or a total of $465,000 United States currency. The rapid growth and this 
substantial investment make even more urgent the securing of an adequate 
endowment 

A most encouraging feature of this period has been the cooperation of tlie 
Chinese. Of the 30 permanent buildings, 10 have been given by Chinese, while 
during the past seven years as much money for all purposes, current expenses, 
as well as buildings, has been received from Chinese s-ources (including tuition 
fees) as from America. Twice since the Great War unbalanced everything and 
American contributions to the college have fallen to half their former rate, 
the students have voluntarily and enthusiastically conducted local campaigns 
and in 10 days' time collected individual .subscriptions of small sums, which 
totaled $17,000 Hongkong currency in 1915, and .$22,000 in 1918, to be applied 
to curi"ent expenses. Without these student campaigns the institution could 
not have met its obligations. But such efforts can not be relied upon too often, 
imd from American friends mox'e adequate help should come in behalf of stu- 
dents who thus have proved their wortli. When in the early summer of 1918 
a chapter of the American Ktxl Cross was formtil in Canton, every student and 
every Chinese instructor in the Canton Christian College became a paying mem- 
ber of the American Red Cross, 

Besides organizations of former students in Canton, Hongkong, Saigon, and 
Peking, the Canton Christian College Club of North America includes some 
75 alert members. These groups have done much in securing friends for the 
college as well as by contributions in money. 

Chapters of a general association of Chinese friends and supporters have 
been established in China and in 36 cities of North America, including such 
centers as San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Montreal, 
Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. In the year 1916-17 the memljership fees 
of this Chinese association in North America iuuounted to $0,400, and were 
applied to the current expenses of the college, 

A third noteworthy characteristic of this period of organization is that the 
institution was practically forced to become coeducational, as it now is in all 
grades. While continuing to have girls as well as boys in the elementary 
school and to keep the secondary school open for girls who prefer this type of 
institution, it is now proposed to refrain from developing a sepitrate secondary 
school for girls, and to back the True Light Middle School for girls, already 
fairly well developed under the auspices of the American Presbyterian Mission, 
on the condition that they offer adequate preparation for entrance to our 
College of Arts and Sciences, and direct girls desiring to pursue collegiate 
studies to the Canton C-hristian College. As the number of women increa.ses, 
coui-ses especially adapted to their needs will be developetl and in due course 
a .separate college for women established, although for some time the numbers 
will be far too small to warrant such a step. At present there are about 40 
girl students in the whole institutiA", of whom only one is in the college proper, 
though in previous years six other girls have been regular students in this 
department. Exi)erience in the secondai*y grades has shown -that the girls 
are very close competitors of the boys in point of scholarship. 

In accoitlance with Dr. Hapi>er's original intention and for tlie reasons set 
forth in the earlier sectiun of this article on the language problem, English 



APPENDIX. 55 

ia the medium of instruction for all modern subjects beyond the second year of 
the secondary school. At the same time a high standard in Chinese subjects 
is maintained and all students art' required to study Mandarin, which is also 
employed as the medium of instruction lor some of the courses, such as the 
geography and the history of China. 

Three elements of modern education are so entirely novel in comparison 
with the old-style education in China and are of such recognized importance 
to-day that a brief mention will suffice to indicate the special emphasis they 
receive in Canton Christian College, as; indeed in all progressive schools in 
China. The natural sciences, manual training, and athletics. 

We have already spoken of the relation of the courses in the various de- 
partments of natural science to China's need for leaders in industrial and 
hygienic reformation. The details of such work at Canton Christian College 
are set forth in a later section of this article. 

In endeavoring to introduce and develop interest in manual training, it has 
been necessary to proceed wisely, in view of the traditional antipathy toward 
any sort of manual toil on the part of the scholar class. But that the move- 
ment has been crowned with abundant success is evident from the spirit ex- 
hibited by our students in digging a large outdoor swimming pool two years 
ago and grading their own athletic field in the past year, both tremendous 
\uidertakings involving daily participation in dirty work which covered more 
than a year in each case. Rich and poor, girls as well as boys, ohl-style 
teachers as well as returned students from America, all joined in the work. 
Tills really remarkable result was not suddenly attained but v.-as the culmina- 
tion of a sequence of graded steps calculated to overcome traditional prejudice. 
And in all of this, cooperation or example on the part of the American in- 
structors has been a leading factor; indeed, in the digging of the pool some of 
the American women of the campus took active part. 

Outdoor games were, of course, introduced at the very inauguration of the 
Institution and naturally the long finger nails and the long gown were not 
long in coming off when once the wearer actively participated in a game of 
association football That was the first step; other athletic forms were 
readily developed and the total effect of such in opening the mind as v/ell as 
the pores has been of untold value. 

In the line of manual training more properly speaking, advantage was taken 
of the traditional reverence for the written and printed " character " and ele- 
mentary practice in typesetting and printing v\as introduced as tiie thin edge 
of the wedge, which in due course was followed by required work in carpentry, 
basket and rattan work, and then later in gardening — all this, of course, in 
the secondary school. While in the college proper nearly the whole time as- 
signed to science courses is spent in laboratory and field work. 

Somewhat related to the same principle underlying this athletic and manual 
work is that involved in military drill. Not only is the discipline of 
the secondary school conducted on a miltiary basis but military as well as 
physical drill is required. In the College of Arts and Sciences there is no re- 
quired military drill, but a vigorous volunteer corps has been formed entirely 
on the students' own initiative. 

As already indicated the college is nondenominational. The doors are open to 
all students qualified by character and scholastic attainment to enter, irre- 
spective of religious belief. Great care is taken t() make the atmosphere of the 
campus wholesome and tolerant. Religious instruction is an integral part of the 
curriculum in all grades and weekly preaching services as well as daily chapel 
exercises are held under the auspices of the institution, but there is no organized 
church at the college. Though at first regarded by many denominational mis- 



56 MODEEX EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

sionaries as a very doubtful experiment the Cauton Christian College while 
maintaining high educational standards and observing a strictly nonsectarian 
attitude has nevertheless fully justified its existence even as an evangelizing 
agency, for every year several scores of students make public profession of Chris- 
tian faith under circumstances that indicate their grasp of the fundamentals 
of a tolerant and effective Christianity. Though very few are Christians when 
they enter or come from Christian homes, DO per cent of all students vrho go 
out from the college after two or more years attendance are church members. 
In this connection it is noteworthy that when information about the different 
churches is publicly given by Chinese Christian teachers, denominational differ- 
ences are barely mentioned, while in evei-y case the need for workers is empha- 
sized and the weakest church makes the strongest appeal to the new converts. 

The college offers a standing invitation to any denominational board having 
work in Kwaugtuug or Kwaugsi to participate in the work of higher education 
by contributing a man to the staff, and in consequence to have the privilege of 
nominatin.y- a member of the board of trustees. The London Missionary Society- 
has already entered into this arrangement, and doubtless their example will in 
due course be followed by others, since the college aims to serve them all as the 
apex of the system of Christian education in South China. 

While this nondenominational basis receives indorsement from many Amer- 
icans as well as from the Chinese generally, financial support from organized 
denominational sources is thereby reduced, and the college has been obliged to 
build up also an American constituency of its own corresponding to the gen- 
eral association of Chinese supporters, though without any fees or dues. Thus 
far this general association of American friends of the college has been actively 
promoted chiefly by a central committee of women in and about New York City. 
There is still great need to secure a larger body of American friends who will 
support the college on a nonsectarian basis. ( Reference has already been made 
to support from American colleges.) 

Three problems of organization, which have been substantially solved, are 
perhaps worthy of special note : The architectural general plan, the administra- 
tive function, and the scholastic divisions. 

THE AKCHITECTl'RAL PROBLEM. 

In designing the grounds and the disposition of the college buildings upon 
them the inevitable expansion into a great university has been foreseen and 
considered from the very first in a large, orderly, and comprehensive plan, ac- 
cording to which all of the buildings are and will be successively fitted in their 
appropriate groups as they are erected. However, this scheme has not been 
taken as alisolutely rigid, but has always been subject to restudy for a given 
area whenever a new group of buildings has been inaugurated. For adequate 
control of such an elastic scheme as well as for the design of the individual 
buildings the college maintains a resident architect. It has also oi'ganized its 
own building department, and thus greatly reduced the cost which rarely ex- 
ceeds half, and in some cases is only a third, of the cost of similar buildings in 
America. 

The purchase of a considerable stretch of waterfront has prevented too close 
encroachment by manufacturing plants and provided rich bottom lands for ex- 
periments in flooded fields cultivation and dikes that do extra duty as lichee 
orchards. Since communication with the city is had by means of a motor 
launch and small native craft, a granite wall and pier are provided as an outer 
landing harbor, from which a canal runs in a short distance to form an inner 
harbor for protection of the boats from typhoons and also to give access to the 



APPEXDIX. 57 

teriiiiuus oJ: a iiaiTuw -gauge riulway by which building luaiorialf, I'uel, elc, aiv 
transported to various parts of the campus. To ono side of this canal, where 
it makes a great bona, lies the swimming pool, designed to l)e lliled and emptietl 
by tidal action, assisted by a small centriiugal pump. Further in and some- 
what more elevated will be the filler liods for the poi-manoin water-supply sys- 
tem of the campus, at present only partially developed. 

An open esplanade 200 feet wide leads I'rnn; tlio river a quarter of a mile 
southward to the site of the future clsapel. Suulli of this is the impressive 
Students' Christian Association Building, which seats over 800, and yet is often 
crowded. The summit of the highest hill on the east, some 70 feet above the 
river, is reserved. for the library, from vvhirh a wide cross esplanade extends 
westward as the axis of the main academic group. On the northern or river- 
ward brow of this hill will some day stand a hall of international good will as 
a memorial to John Hay and other American friends of China. Disposed on 
either ^side of the great cross formetl by tliese two cspl nadcs are projected 
groups of buildings corresponding to the scholastic divisions of the institution. 
To the east and south of this more formal development lies an extensive resi- 
dence park for the faculty, Chinese and American. A model village of modest 
coUages for subordinate employees has already been begun and, of course, 
athletic lields and gardens form other elements in the ground plan. Tliere is 
also a fully equipped meteorological station so placed on the caminis that 
students and visitors may by inspection, without seriously interfering with the 
actual securing of reliable records, foi'm some idea of the character and value 
of such work. 

Assuming the value to the Chinese students and people of an environment of 
scholarly and dignified architecture, in contrast with the prevalent nondescript 
adaptions of ill-assorted European styles, it is the aim of the designers to give 
the buildings individual distinction while subordnating them to the general unity 
of the scheme. 

The type of permanent liuilding adopted comldnes modei'n construction with 
a Chinese aspect, chiefly expressed in the roofs v.hich are of green glazed tile 
and ornamented and curved according to the best native style. The floors are 
reinforced concrete, the walls of red brick of a pleasing soft tone. All the 
buildings are equipped with modern plimibing. It is distinctly the aim of the 
college so to build as to exemplify structurally and artistically the best combi- 
nation of Western and Chinese architecture, and thus as well as in other ways 
to be of help in this period of change in China. 

THE ADMINISTRATIVE PTvOBLEM. 

The work of the institution is carried on under the direction of a council 
composed of the president, vice-president for Chinese affairs, Imrsar, and the 
head of each constituent school, except the elementary school, whose interests 
are represented in the council by the principal of the secondary school. When 
the faculty of any constituent school exceeds eight pi'ofessors and associate 
professors it has an additional representative in the council. 

The council is responsible for the drawing up of the budget for approval by 
the trustees,' and is charged with all affairs that concern more than one school 
and with the inauguration or elimination of departments or schools. The plan 
of organization is that of an American university with lower feeding schools. 
All academic questions are dealt with directly by the faculty of each school, 
the head of each school having veto power over the action of his faculty. 

The bursar performs also the duties of a general business manager and super- 
intendent of buildings and grounds. Special officers of administration besides 



58 MODEE:Nr education in china. 

the rosulont architect are the resident engineer, tlie college phj'sician, and the 
supervisor of religious work. 

Since the trustees are in New York and the college in Canton, there is an 
unavoidable element in the major problems of administration, unknown in an 
institution in America, which may well be called the " Ten Thousand Mile 
Difficulty." This could only be solved perfectly by a president able to perform 
the miracle of being in t^NO places at the same time, and is only moderately 
overcome by frequent visits from one side of the world to the other. Another 
line of solution of this difficulty has been steadily to increase the responsibilities 
and powers of the council on the field by delegation to it of many functions gen- 
erally performed in more or less detail by the board of trustees for a college in 
America. 

THE SCHOLASTIC DIVISIONS. 

The scholastic work of the institution is divided into three main schools of 
five years each : Elementary, secondary, and collegiate. Some 1,100 students 
have entered the institution since 1899. 

The elementary school is maintained partly as a model and observational 
school in connection with the Teachers' College which is being developed as one 
of the main divisions of collegiate grade. This elementary school is housed 
on the " cottage system ;" that is, each class has its own cottage, which in- 
cludes the class room, a dining room, pantry and servants' room on the ground 
floor, and on the second floor bedrooms and bathrooms for 30 students and 
two teachers, so arranged that the teachers, to reach their individual rooms 
must traverse the large bedroom of the students and to reach their private bath 
must traverse the bathroom of the students, thus enforcing at least a modicum 
of all desirable supervision. 

A central building of the elementary group provides office space, assembly 
hall, a demonstration class and playroom, and a kitchen (in the third story), 
from which food is distributed to the individual cottages. This school is 
taught entirely by Chinese instructors. The principal Is assisted by two 
other men and seven women with normal school training. 

At present only four of the five cottages have been provided and so the 
enrollment is 120, whereas the full complement is intended to be WO, which 
will be the permanent limit. The cottages have each cost but $3,000 (United 
States currency). 

The secondary school as at present organized covers the work of the highest 
two grammar grades and the first three years of the middle school. The 
enrollment in 1917-18 was 330, making it by far the largest administrative 
di\ision, occupying three large dormitories. These dormitories have all been 
provided by Chinese donors, at an average cost of about $33,000 (Hongkong 
currency) for a fireproof building housing some hundred students (four in a 
room), and three to six unmarried instructors. 

The present faculty of the secondary school includes 10 American and 25 Chi- 
nese teachers, 10 of the latter being graduates of American colleges. The cur- 
riculum is carefully planned to meet the practical needs of Chinese youth for 
active life and citizenship, the ideal of service being constantly set before them. 
Outdoor work of many sorts is emphasized, including observation trips to fac- 
tories and places of interest and camping expeditions in association with 
teachers. Class sections are limited to 30 students and a system of class ad- 
visors is effectively maintained. Student organizations are encouraged. 

The annual fees in the secondary school are about $300, and in the college 
about $250 (Hongkong currency), including room rent and table board as well 
as tuition. 



APPENDIX. 59 

An employment office helps students to find work on the componnd for par- 
tial self-support, and tliere are a few endowed scholarships which cover tui- 
tion only. Boys entirely dependent upon a Christian pastor or other Christian 
worker are given free tuition. Tuition has recently been increased oO per cent 
throughout the institution without affecting the eurollmeul. liut il has, of course, 
been necessary as far as possible to grant scholarship aid to all students who 
urgently need it, giving due weight to diligence and nonscbolastic activities and 
character as well as scholarship. All sucli aid is treated as a loan repayable in 
part or in whole by fulfilling certain conditions of service after lea\iug achool. 

The educational work of the mi.ssions in Kwangtung, especinlly of those 
which center at Canton, has for generations lagged behind their distinctly 
evangelistic work, and the number of boys' schools under Christian control is 
still lamentably small though the recent progress made in two or three of these 
has been verj- marked. These schools have hitherto been able to attract very 
few students from the upper middle class, and as a conseqxience those who have 
come liaAC been financially unable to go into higher schools. Due to these cir- 
cumstances, as well as to help in raising standards, the Canton Ciu'istian College 
has been compelled to establish a secondary school as a foundation of its own 
upon which to base college work. Meantime more than a hundred of its gradu- 
ates have entered American universities and not a few have gone to the best tech- 
nical schools in North China. As the prospect of larger numbers of students com- 
ing from other mission schools is growing brighter, it is now possible to count 
upon a sutMcient number of applicants from our own secondary school to Avar- 
rant emphasizing from now on the adequate development of the college 
proper and the bending of every effort in the dii-ection of increasing its staff and 
equipment. Though for many years it will be necessary to maintain juul enlarge 
the secondary school, say, to a limit of 1,000 pupils, the institution is 
already beginning to fulfill its true function in South China, namely, to offer 
courses of recognized college grade whicli will prepare men and women to be 
Jiigli minded and efficient leaders of their people v.ithout going abroad for 
study. 

THE I'EUIOD OF REALIZATION. 

Though for purposes of statistical statement we have given 1919 as the be- 
ginning of the period of realization as contrasted with the period of organiza- 
tion, this last stage really began in 1914 when the class, which in June, 1918, 
received the first degrees to be granted by Canton Christian College, entered 
the courses of study organized under the faculty of the College of Arts and 
Sciences. 

The growth of the student body in the College of Arts and Sciences is shown 
by the enrollment statistics: 1912-13, 16; 1913-14, 27; 1914-ir>, 37; 1015-16, 43; 
1916-17, 52 ; 1917-18, 103 ; 1918-19, 121. 

These figures include the subfreshman class whicli though corresponding to 
the fourth year of the middle school is for administrative purposes phiced 
under the faculty of the college proper. This is done not only to give greater 
momentum to that department during the early stages of development, but 
also to allow students in this year to elect courses in education, agriculture, 
and business, so that if unable to remain for the full college course, they may 
by the end of the freshman year be entitled to receive a .iunior certificate. 

The present teaching staff of the College of Arts and Sciences totals 30, 
of whom 14 are of the rank of ]>rofessor or associate professor. The B. A. 
degree is granted on the authority of the regents of the University of the 
State of New York at the completion of the four-year course in one of the fol- 



60 MODEEN EDUCJfTION IN CHINA. 

lowing groups : General arts, natural science, social science, or agriculture. 
For each group certain essential subjects are required in addition to wliicli a 
choice may be made among a limited number of others. Chinese composition 
and translation and eight credits in courses in religion are prescribed for all 
students. For graduation one must obtain 140 credits, each representing one 
semester-hour of recitation. 

The arts course aims to fit men for teaching, especially English, and to lay 
a broad foundation for subsequent professional studies for the ministry, jour- 
nalism, law, etc. Chinese and Englisli language and literature and education 
are stressed, but it is required that even those taking this group shall become 
familiar with one of the sciences, chemistry, physics or biology. 

The natural-science group puts tlie empliasis upon a more extended study 
of at least two of these sciences and upon mathematics, that graduates may be 
prepared to teach these subjects or to go on to specialized studies in medicine, 
engineering, etc. 

The social-science group approaches the arts group, but requires more 
economics, sociology, and history with options in business and in government, 
and courses of obvious practical usefulness, which furnish an excellent founda- 
tion for men who will have to carry large business responsibilities, as well as 
those who will lead in social, economic, and political reform. 

Agi'iculture is at pi'csont tlie most specialized collegiate course, and in 
view of the great importance of such work, as indicated in an earlier section 
of this article, it is very encouraging to note how pojjular tlie courses in agri- 
culture are, practicaly half of the present student body of the college being 
in this department. 

The special staff in agriculture includes, besides the head of the biological 
department as^ entomologist, two Americans experienced in horticulture and 
animal husbandry, one Chinese educated in America as agronomist, and several 
experienced Chinese agriculturalists secured locally. Twenty-live acres are 
inider special cultivation, including rice fields, foreign and Chinese vegetable 
gardens, fruit-tree nurseries, etc. Among the special projects at present 
under way and of great importance to the future agricultural development of 
South China may be mentioned hog breeding ; develoisment of dairy herd ; 
improvement of rice culture by selection ; a study of the diseases of the lychee 
and also of the citrus fruits, of gi-eat importance to California and Florida as 
well as China ; improvement of sericulture through the production of disease- 
free silkworms ; a herbarium which exchanges with museums throughout tbe 
world. In all this work close cooperation has been establislied with the 
United States r»epartment of Agriculture, the Philippine Bureau of Science, 
the International Committee for the Improvement of Sericulture, and the 
Kwangtung Experiment Station. 

A medical school and a teachers" college are also being developed and a 
school of engineering is projected. 

EARLIER EMPHASIS OX HIGH SCHOOL A NECESSARY PEELIMIXARY, 

The peculiar problem just now is really to "turn the coi*ner " in the develop- 
ment of a high-grade college of arts and sciences as the first step toward the 
establishment of the future Canton Christian University, which will include 
these various schools. 

When 20 years ago the effort to establish a full-fledged college was begun, 
it at once became evident that the development of a high-grade secondary 
school had first to be accomplished, and when the task was fully under way 
it became necessary to develop grammar grades. 



^ 



APPENDIX. 61 

The next lower stage was undertaken as the result of a bit of " spontaneous 
louibustion " on the part of the upper classmen in the middle school, who in 
connection with their study of educational problems became so aroused to the 
need of more and better elementary schools, that they induced the Student 
Christian Association to undertake the development of an elementary school, 
which for three years they manned and financed completely, the college merely 
granting use of available space in one of the earliest temporary buildings. So 
rapidly did this school prove its worth that Chinese friends readily gave it the 
first two permanent cottages and a central hall, and the undertaking was tx-ans- 
ferred to the ollicial control and spons«_)rship of the college as a part of its 
scheme for a complete educational system. 

Freshmen classes and even sophomore classes were frequently conducted 
after 1903, though eaiii year so many students, on leaving the middle school, 
went to America under Government aid, that it was always a question on 
opening a new academic year whether to devote available forces to carrying 
■^a handful of men through a year of the college course or with the same re- 
sources take in and adequately care for 40 or 80 students in the lower years 
of the high school. 

The decision was almost always in favor of the latter course, for, besides the 
financial advantage, the development of a sufficient momentum in the high school 
was an essential preliminary to the establishing of a college. This momentum 
was also effectively increased by the maneuver of cutting the freshmen class off 
from the college course and adding it to the top of the middle school, making 
the latter a very substantial five-year course. After a decade of emphasis on 
the middle school it became possible to organize substantial coiu'ses of real col- 
legiate grade, and students have been attracted by the prospect of obtaining a 
degree of recognized standard without the greater expense of studying abroad. 
In 1916 the fifth year of the middle school was returned to the control of the 
faculty of arts and sciences, and the fourth year was allowed to follow it as 
the so-called " subfreshman " year, already explained. 

THE COLLEGE NOW FULLY rXDER WAY. 

The task of developing a true college in close juxtaposition to an overshadow- 
ing high school is extremely difficult; especially when as yet sufficient dormi- 
tories are not available to permit a complete separation in the housing of college 
students away from high-school students, and no recitation hall or laboratory 
|building is available for the exclusive use of college classes. Under these cir- 
Icumstances the results already achieved as regards both standards and scholar- 
ship and college spirit are most remarkable and warrant the claim that given the 
needed facilities, the development in the next decade will surpass all limits, for 
there is no possibility of overstating the desire of the youth of China for mod- 
ern education of a high grade even under foreign and even Christian auspices. 
At the Canton Christian Cohege even the attics of the dormitories are filled 
with students (and that in a tropical climate), and mat sheds have been erected 
to care for the overflow of students, fully qualified by character and scholastic 
attainment to enter, who would not be denied. Some idea of tliis pressure may 
be had from the fact that whereas in 1904 there were but 6 students of col- 
legiate grade, in 1917 there were more than 60 in the subfreshman class alone, 
and in 1919 there are more students in the freshman class than in all four 
college grades a year and a half ago. In 1917-18 there were 10 students in 
'rollege biology, whereas in 1918-19 there are 70 in the same class. 



62 MODERISr EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

The grade of scholarship maintained is fully attested by the advanced stand- 
ing granted our students who withdraw to enter universities in America, and 
by the progress they subsequently make. 

Moreover, the opportunity for substantial and satisfying service along edu- 
cational lines, combined as it is with other opportunities for research in almost 
untouched fields such as economics, government, sociology, ethnology, geology, 
and biology and in the applications of all the sciences to the agricultural and in- 
dustrial development of a country whose natural wealth is as yet even unsur- 
veyed, does not fail to attract men of high grade to membership on the faculty 
of the college, even on the reduced financial basis which unfortunately char- 
acterizes missionary enterprises. 

It is of course essential to provide adequate facilities for effective work. 
Substantial results have already been obtained, even though the science labora- 
tories are conducted in makeshift and overcrowded quarters; and a \evy 
good start has been made on a college library, which at present contains some 
8,000 English and G.OOO Chinese volumes, including some very valuable journals 
and .special publications. 

SOME IMMEDIATE NEEDS. 

Aside from the ever-present need of endowment, four immediate needs are 
intimately connected with the problem of providing the College of Arts and 
Sciences with a distinct entity of its own. These are a science laboi-atory, an 
agricultural building, student dormitories, and faculty residences. A fifth need, 
also of innnediate importance in the development of the institution as a whole, 
is a power house, because on a campus of 130 acres, containing some 50 build- 
ings, which house all the activities of over 1,000 peoide, the only power plant 
thus far afforded is a three horsepower oil engine pumping the water supply. 
No electric lights or other applications of power are yet available, except in 
the physics laboratory for purely experimental purposes. Yet even under 
these limitations this " man factory," as the Chinese call it, is a going concern ; 
abundant high-grade " raw material " is available, a qualified staff is " on the 
job." the work is fully organized, the "plant " is being used to the utmo.st ad- 
vantage, and it but remains to put more capital at the disposal of its directors 
in order that it may indeed keep pace with its ever-increasing opportunity to 
supply precisely the product which China so greatly needs for the period of 
reconstruction which she faces. 



APPENDIX B. 

PEKING UNION MEDICAL COLLEGE. 

Perhaps the best illustration of what the newer nicilical education of China 
is destined to be is found in the Peking Union Medical Co'.'ege. This institution 
is itself the outgrowth of the Union Medical College which was founded in 
1906 by the six English and American Missionai-y Boards operating in China. 
The time of foundation was significant, following as it did upon the disor- 
ganization of missionary work which resulted from the Boxer uprising. In 1914 
the Rockefeller Foundation sent the China Medical Commission " to inquire 
into the condition of medical education, hospitals, and public health in China." 
Upon the basis of its reiwrt the corporate fusion of the two bodies was effected, 
and po^*session of the property of the old Medical College was acquired. By the 
terms of transfer a board of trustees of 13 members was appointed, apportioned 
among the founding organizations. Among these are to be noted the following 
men of international repute : John R. IMott, chairman ; George E. Vincent, chair- 
man of the executive committee ; Wallace Buttrick, Wickliffe Rose, William H. 
Welch, and Simon Flexner. 

Early in 1916 a provisional charter was secured from the regents of the 
University of the State of New York. In October, 1918, the l're-:\Iedical School, 
conducted as a feeder for the college, opened with au encouraging number 
of native Chinese yoiith enrolled, each of whom was a graduate of a modern 
college or high school. The Hrst term of the college proper will open in October, 
1919, with requirements for admi.sslon conforming to those laid down by the 
New York State Board of Regents, the Association of American Medical Col- 
leges, and the Chinese Ministry of Education. Under spechil circumstances, 
however, conditioned students are admitted. Women students are admitted on 
the same footing as men ; and special opportunities are offered them for train- 
ing courses in modern nursing, to \\liich only graduates from a modern middle 
school will lie admitted. 

English will for the present lie the language of instruction ; but, as the 
progress of medical education in China will ultimately lead to the necessity of 
instruction in Chinese, special courses in Chinese related to scientific and medi- 
cal needs will be required from the beginning. 

63 



APPENDIX C. 

MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN CHINA. 

Women's colleges in China iindei- mission auspices : 

North China Union Women's College, Rliss Luella Miner, established in 

1905; 50 students in 1917. 
Ginling College, Nanking, Mrs. LaMrence Thurston, established in 1915; 
50 students in 1917. 
Women and girls in all schools: 

In 1876 1,307 I In 1917 57,256 

In 1907 9. 929 1 

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN CHINA. 

Statistics of the educational work of the Roman Catliolic missions are not 
available. 

EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE- PROTESTANT MISSIONS, 1917. 

Institutions and enrolhnent in 1911. 





Kin- 
dergar- 
tens. 


Lower 

element- 

tary. 


Higher 
elemen- 
tary. 


Mid- Colle- 
dle. ■ [giate. 


Normal 
and Theo- 
train- logical, 
ing. 


Sf-Wedical. 


Nurse. 




7.5.5 


5,329 
6jC09 

86,941 
25, 167 


573 
1,798 

13, 434 

6, 732 


228 18 


119 30 


32 


21 


65 






Enrollment: 




9,201 
2, 679 


758 
14 


816 
1,872 


610 


488 
519 


389 
63 




Female 












Total 


349 


138,943 


20,832 


11,892 


772 


3,125 




1,375 


452 


715 



The totals do not agree with sum of entries of separate sexes for the reason 
that some schools in their reports have failed to separate the sexes. 

Besides the institutions listed above, there are maintained 38 orphanages 
with I.I.'jS inmates. 

Chinese contributions to educational work under the Protestant missions for 
1917 amounted to $1,231,149 Chinese currency. 

64 



APPENDIX D. 

CHINA'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS.* 

By Hollington K. Tong. 

China at the present time, according to the vice minister of education, Yuan 
Hsit'ao, has over 134,000 modern schools of different types, including normal, 
industrial, and technical schools, colleges, and universities, but in 1910 there 
were only 52,650 schools. The number of schools has thus been more than 
doubled in only eight years. To-day there are in China 4,500,000 students, 
326,000 teachers and administrative officers, and the annual expenditure of the 
Central and provincial governments is approximately $40,000,000, but in 1910 
there were only 1,625,534 students, 185,566 teachers and administrative officers, 
and the educational expenditure was Tls. 24,444,309, or about $.33,000,000. The 
aI)ovc figures show that, although the number of students has increased by 
three-fourths, the anjount of educational expenses has increased by less than 
.$7,000,000. The result, according to the educational authorities, is the poorer 
school equipment, the poorer teaching staff, and the general inefficiency of most 
of the schools. This alarming situation is now receiving the serious considera- 
tion of public-spirited citizens. Unless it is remedied promptly, the future 
generations will be seriously affected. Quite a number of thinking Chinese are 
realizing the danger to the Republic if no adequate provision is made for the 
younger generation to receive a sound education, knowing that no republic can 
exist if its people are not properly educated. 

" Since the establishment of the Republic, the educational funds of the cen- 
tral and provincial governments have been much reduced," declared the vice 
minister of education in an interview. In 1907, when Chang Tse-tung was 
viceroy of Hupeh, that Province annually expended $1,000,000 for educational 
purposes. At present it expends only something like $400,000 a year. In the 
last days of the Manchu rggime, Kiangsu Province devoted over $2,000,000 a 
year to the education of its people, but now it expends only $1,100,000 annually. 

" There are now more schools of various types than before," continued Vice 
Minister Yuan, " but they are not so well equipped. The laboratories in most 
of the schools, for instance, are lacking in experimental apparatus, and none 
of the colleges or universities has a good library for research work, which is 
much needed for advanced students. One interesting fact is that although the 
number of schools has been doubled during the last eight years, the number of 
students has been more than trebled. The result is that the existing schools 
are unable to accommodate all the aspiring young men and women, and that 
those students for whom accommodation has been found can not and do not 
receive the maximum amount of benefit on account of the lack of teachers and 
the consequent neccessity to attend too large a class. 

" After the unification of the north and south the ministry of education will 
devote the best of its attention to remedying the existing defects and further to 
promote universal education. Hitherto, the civil war has cost China much 
money, and all the available funds which might have been appropriated for 
educational purposes in ordinary times have been requisitioned for Juilitary 
purposes. When the war is over, the claim of the ministry of education for 
more educational funds, we trust, will unquestionably receive a sympathetic 
bearing from the Government. 

> From Millard's Revip^w (Shanghai), Mar. 22, 1919. 
126111°— 19 5 66 



66 



MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 



" In future tlie ministry will try its best to encourage higher and technical 
education by making special grants. It is now making plans for the dispatch 
of more college graduates to foreign countries to pursue a higher education. 
Social education in future will also be encouraged. Efforts are being made to 
impress upon the people the importance of knowledge, and the necessity of 
good and moral conduct. Our educational object is to give such education to 
the people that it will enable them to be useful men. I mean that we want to 
give them practical education. Personally, I do not believe in education by 
text books. Neither have we overlooked the usefulness of physical education. 
In former times learned Chinese were unable to make good use of their educa- 
tion because of their physical weakness. This condition is being remedied. I 
sincerely hope that a way will be found after the unification of China to make 
education as universal as possible." 

In reply to an inquiry about the present status of the Chinese educational 
progress, Vice Minister Yuan gave the following interesting and up-to-date in- 
formation which, however, does not cover a survey of the mission and private 
schools in China. 

1. PBIMABY SCHOOLS. 

The primary schools are of two grades: The lower primary school and the 
higher primary school. The course of study in the lower primary school is to 
be completed in four years and that in the higher primary school in three years. 
It is the duty of every parent to send his boy to school as soon as the latter 
reaches six years of age. This rule will be uniformly enforced and strictly 
carried out after the unification of China. The number of kindergartens in 
China is rather small, but the following statistics regarding the primary schools 
in the different Provinces for the fourth year of the Republic (from August, 
1915, to July, 1916), which are the latest, may be of interest: 

Lower primary schools. 



Names of Provinces. 



Metropolis 

Metropolitan district . 

Chihli 

Fengtien 

Kirlin. 



Heilungkiang. 

Shantung 

Honan 

Shansi 

Kiangsu 

Anhwei 

Kiangsi 

FuMen 

Chekiang 

Hupei 

Hunan 

Shensi 

Kansu 

Sinkiang 

Szechueii , 

Kwangtung.. 

Kwangsi 

Yunnan 

Kueichow 

Jehol 

Suiyuan 

Charhar 



Total 119, 007 3, 736, 513 



Number 

of 
schools. 



1,1 

14, 

5, 



Number 
of stu- 
dents. 



216 


21,073 


154 


30, 026 


288 


423, 537 


489 


195, 893 


V5S 


31,522 


967 


28, 537 


375 


395, 490 


326 


185, 649 


817 


304, 283 


845 


262, 735 


135 


41,139 


026 


91, 761 


1.50 


51,184 


621 


288, 644 


118 


216, 582 


861 


121,264 


913 


121,176 


414 


34, 493 


.53 


2,602 


832 


436, 017 


093 


161,003 


,560 


48, 665 


678 


167,9,54 


411 


54,292 


464 


10,686 


262 


5,925 


181 


4,381 



Teachers 
and ad- 
ministra- 
tive offi- 
cers. 



594 

2,403 

32, 895 

8,050 

1,493 

1,197 

39, 345 

15, 604 

20,711 

15, 103 

2,719 

7,842 

4,880 

17,966 

13,539 

9,774 

12,611 

1,980 

76 

26, 501 

13, 302 

3,225 

9,602 

4,346 

761 

283 

239 



Expenses. 



$82, 730 
188, 590 

1,418,415 

1,372,093 
340, 061 
286, 515 

1,299,290 
395, 413 
737, 677 

1,704,129 
225, 139 
407, 239 

359. 703 
1,448,237 

456, 729 

609, 020 

244, 558 

54,428 

42, 523 

1,060,202 

1,163,503 

389, 2.53 

470. 704 
183,395 

48,344 
21, 765 
13,100 



15,022,755 



APPENDIX. 67 

Table showing the higher primary schools of the whole country. 



Names of Provinces. 


Number 

of 
schools. 


Number 
of stu- 
dents. 


Teachers 
and ad- 
ministra- 
tive offi- 
cers. 


Ex (Menses. 




61 

54 

405 

351 

88 

65 

381 

224 

225 

458 

253 

421 

489 

720 

182 

341 

140 

139 

6 

835 

1,100 

330 

318 

235 

21 

7 

13 


4,034 

2, 091 

25, 808 

20, 102 

4,024 

2,759 

16,078 

12, 594 

13, 788 

26,625 

10,024 

19,474 

14,539 

31,143 

13, 158 

21, 126 

7,917 

4,227 

147 

44,280 

45,998 

12,766 

21,446 

10, 639 

907 

374 

297 


497 

191 

1,827 

1,297 

321 

241 

1,481 

755 

1,067 

3,224 

1,327 

2,040 

3,210 

3,985 

963 

2,066 

824 

542 

10 

4,751 

6,088 

1,364 

1,333 

1,369 

89 

16 

46 


$171,782 




58,311 


Chihli 


667,014 




540,077 




199, 172 




163, 471 




369, 780 




236, 757 




241,877 




751,377 




246, 312 




345,605 




318,817 




667, 561 




253, 385 




248,621 




173,880 




82,289 




14,029 




744, 481 




990,675 




269,038 




219, 888 




147, 897 


Jehol 


29, 137 




7,069 




15,415 






Total 


7,862 


386,365 


40, 915 


9,173,717 



2. MIDDLE SCHOOLS. 

The aim of the middle schools is to furnish general education and to develop 
strong and intelligent citizens. The course of the middle school is four 
years. Graduates from the higher primai-y school or those who have passed 
examinations showing a similar grade of scholarship are allowed to enter 
the middle school. Owing to the great demand for vocational education, special 
courses will be offere<l to tlie students of the middle school, besides the regular 
courses. 

The following is tlie table regarding the middle schools in China for the 
sixth year of the Republic (from August, 1917, to July. 1918) ; 

Middle schools in 1911-18. 



Names of Provinces. 


Schools. 


Teach- 
ers. 


Admin- 
istrative 
officers. 


Classes. 


Stu- 
dents. 


Gradu- 
ates. 


Ex- 
penses. 


Metropolis 


12 
5 
2 
17 
8 
2 
21 
20 
6 
16 
21 
U 
23 
18 
26 
45 
55 


188 
33 
258 
1.58 
70 
21 
261 
186 
87 
155 
208 
83 
371 
218 
226 
691 
283 


67 
15 
27 
70 
30 
10 
79 

129 
39 
89 
74 
39 

169 
88 
79 

245 

102 


39 
10 
79 
43 
16 
18 
49 
51 
31 
44 
50 
29 
72 
71 
51 
243 
69 


3,092 
551 
3,321 
1,960 
906 
421 
3,406 
2,854 
1,530 
2,885 
2,898 
1,125 
5,525 
3,014 
2,896 
8,614 
8,008 


492 

44 

2,302 

489 


$54,912 




9,240 


Chihh .. 


122,072 




80,791 


Kirlln 






132 

504 
647 
187 

1,254 
488 
497 

1,872 
740 
622 

1,483 

2,316 


25,000 


Shantung 


106, 077 




157,840 


Shensi 


85,796 


Honan 

Kiangsu 


84.166 
100,788 




37,250 


Chekiang 

Kiangsi. . . 


29,160 
48,950 


Hupei 


18, 512 


Hunan 


240,313 


Szechuen 





68 



MODEEIsr EDUCATION IN CHINA. 
Middle schools in 1911-18 — Continued. 



Names of Provinces. 


Schools. 


Teach- 
ers. 


Admin- 
istrative 
officers. 


Classes. 


Stu- 
dents. 


Gradu- 
ates. 


Ex- 
penses. 


Kwangtung 


62 

22 

14 

6 

18 

4 

1 

2 

1 


480 
185 
136 
93 
251 
69 
5 
28 
6 


194 

76 

51 

40 

Wo 

33 

2 

11 

3 


Ill 
54 
33 
28 
66 
16 
86 
6 
1 


7.105 
2,573 
1,654 

1,GC.4 

2,600 

667 


20,848 
417 
630 
443 
965 
117 


$245,478 
108, 029 
87,711 
40,215 
28,679 


Kwangsi 




FuMen 




30,046 






Jehol 


279 
49 


47 
45 












Total 


428 


4,750 


1,956 


1,366 


69,598 


37, ,581 


1,741,023 







The following is the table giving particulars of the girls' middle schools in 
China for the sixth year of the Republic : 

Girls' middle schools. 



Names of Provinces. 


Schools. 


Teach- 
ers. 


Admin- 
istrative 
officers. 


Classes. 


Stu- 
dents. 


Gradu- 
ates. 


Ex- 
penses. 




1 
1 
5 

1 

1 


20 
9 

76 
9 
18 


7 
4 
26 
4 
6 


4 
2 
5 

1 
1 


229 
100 
221 
36 
36 












Kiangsu 


47 


$13, 260 




10,020 


Fukien 


2.5 








Total 


9 


132 


47 


13 


022 


72 


23,280 







3. NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

The normal schools are of two grades — the normal school and the high nor- 
mal school. The purpose of normal schools is to train teachers for the primary 
.school, and that of the higher normal schools is to train teachers for the middle 
schools. Students of the normal schools, both Government and public, are 
exempted from payment for tuition and are given certain allowances to defray 
their expenses. The amount of such allowance varies according to the number 
of years the students are required to serve as teachers after their graduation. 
The normal school gives the preparatory course and the regular course. The 
preparatory course is for one year. The regular course is to be divided into 
two parts; first part of the course is for four years and the second part one 
year. Graduates from the higher primary schools, or students showing a simi- 
lar grade of scholarship, are qualified to take the preparatory course. Students 
completing the preparatory course and graduates from the middle schools 
are qualified to take the second part of the regular course. Courses for train- 
ing primary school and kindergarten teachers may be added to the curriculum 
of the normal school. 

The higher normal school gives the preparatory course, regular course, and 
special research course. Elective and special courses may be added when 
occasion requires. The preparatory course is for one year, the regular course 
three years, and the special research course two years. Graduates from middle 
schools or normal schools or students of equivalent scholarship are allowed to 
take the preparatory course. After completing the preparatory course the 



APPENDIX. 



69 



students are allowed to take the regular course, and then the special research 
course. 

The following table gives particulars of the normal schools in China for the 
sixth year of the Republic : 

Normal schools. 



Names of Provinces. 



Schools. 



Admin- 
istrative 
officers. 



Teacii- 
ers. 



Classes. 



Stu- 
dents. 



Gradu- 
ates. 



Ex- 
penses. 



Metropolis 

Metropolitan district 

Ohihli.... 

Fengtien 

Kirlin 

Heilungkiang. 

Shantung 

Shansi 

Honan 

Shensi 

Kansu 

Kiangsu 

Chekiang 

Anhwei 

Kiangsi 

Hupei 

Hunan 

Szechuen 

Hsinkiang 

FuMcn 

Kwangtung 

Kwangsi 

Yunnan 

Kueichow 

Jehol 

Charhar 

Total 



13 
7 
30 
41 
19 
7 

25 

26 

40 

19 

18 

122 

82 

50 

25 

22 

43 

53 

3 

33 

30 

14 

49 

7 

3 

2 



76 
121 
61 
22 
67 
64 
57 
25 
120 
193 
182 
71 
71 
85 
157 
92 
6 



38 
406 

26 
7 
4 



214 
1(54 

i,:i72 

1,777 

604 

400 

1,022 

1,178 

811 

489 

401 

2,2S7 

1, 865 

1,053 

895 

919 

1,545 

1,458 

60 

495 

503 

507 

1, 175 

228 

73 

80 



26 
39 
194 
228 
113 
40 
258 
165 
82 
108 
219 
510 
183 
26 
167 
127 
30 
101 
40 
32 
39 
41 
233 
36 



S58, 298 

33, 100 

15S, 244 

129. 577 

93, 630 

71,067 

171,124 

88, 392 

121,404 

65, 076 

42, 782 

374,452 

217,350 

125, 278 

81,744 

94, 358 

138, 302 

145, 820 

16,549 

74,992 

42, 968 

75, 447 

130.019 

25, 000 

7,380 

8,971 



127 



78? 



21,575 



3,036 



2,629,444 



The following table gives particulars of the girls' normal schools, also for 
the sixth year of the Republic : 

Girls' normal schools. 



Names of Provinces. 


Schools. 


Admin- 
istrative 
officers. 


Teach- 
ers. 


Classes. 


Stu- 
dents. 


Gradu- 
ates. 


Ex- 
penses. 


Metropolis 


2 
2 
5 
2 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
5 
6 
2 
2 
1 

10 
3 
] 
3 
1 
1 


2 

IS 

10 

4 

4 

13 

14 

7 

12 

2 

42 

31 

16 

9 

3 

56 

18 

10 

11 

4 

2 


39 
42 
45 
16 
17 
32 
28 
16 
20 

6 
71 
84 
22 
28 
22 
135 
77 
21 
57 
17 

7 


8 
10 
13 
6 
3 
10 
7 
2 
3 
1 

17 

21 

6 

3 

3 

31 

10 

5 

6 

3 

1 


222 

353 

504 

185 

134 

357 

188 

85 

60 

27 

498 

432 

180 

85 

12 

960 

301 

184 

257 

141 

38 


56 
96 
161 


$71,931 


ChihU 


72, 176 


Fengtien... 


32, 027 


Kirlin .... 


32,184 






26,784 






37, 374 


Shansi 


27 
16 
14 
8 
68 
43 
32 


33,600 




25,124 


Shensi 


23, 907 




4,674 


Kiangsu 


as, 555 


Chekiang 


60,422 


Anhwei 


19,687 




14, 038 






24,780 


Hunan 


82 


93, 647 




47,800 


Fukien 


14 

3 

39 


20,184 


Kwangtung 


15,687 
1,023 




25,000 








Total 


54 


289 


802 


169 


5, 203 


659 


755, 604 







70 MODERN EDUCATipiSr IN CHINA. 

The following table shows the high normal schools of the whole country : 

Number of schools 7 

Number of administrative officers 165 

Number of teachers : 

Deans 35 

Professors 107 

Instructors 155 

Assistants 8 

Preparatory students 540 

Collegiate students : 

National language 229 

English 228 

History and geography 93 

Mathematics 131 

Science : 138 

Philosophy 120 

Mathematics and science = 93 

Literature and history 40 

Special-course students : 

Manual labor and drawing 73 

Physical training 117 

National language 155 

Agriculture 29 

Industry 39 

Commerce 30 

English - 22 

Drawing and music 37 

Histoi'y and geography 42 

Science 41 

Elected-course students : 

Special 27 

Postgraduate 64 

Handwork 62 

Special training in teaching 42 

Lecture 119 

Research 10 

Total number of students 2, 517 

Number of graduates 407 

Expenses $959,060 

4. TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 

The technical schools are of two grades. A and B courses in agricultur*', 
technique, commerce, shipbuilding, and the like are given. Besides, technical 
schools have been established for girls. The A grade requires one year's pre- 
paratory work and gives a course of three years. The work of B grade covers 
a period of three years. The special and elective courses may be added accord- 
ing to the nature of the location of the school. 



APPENDIX. 



71 



The table of the technical schools of the whole country is as follows ; 

Technical scJiools. 



Names of schools. 


Schools. 


Adminis- 
trative 
officers. 


Teachers. 


Classes. 


Students. 


Gradu- 
ates. 


Expenses. 


Agricultural school (A) 


54 
29 
27 

1 
240 
34 
68 

2 
20 

2 


383 
214 
162 

1 
412 
74 
128 
7 
79 

4 


640 
492 
333 
5 
622 
153 
299 
15 
194 

4 


193 

168 

91 

2 

354 

64 

133 

5 

74 

7 


5,998 
4,352 
3,066 
56 
9,784 
1,692 
3,627 
156 
1,719 

204 


897 
579 
358 


$682 131 


Industrial school (A) 


664' 747 




251 774 


Technical school (A) 


1*800 


Agricultural school (B) 


1,054 
42 

301 
43 

230 


377' 217 


Industrial school (B) 


62' 500 


Commercial school (B) . 


30, 414 
3 692 


Technicalschool (B) 


Women's vocational schools 

Teachers' industrial training 
schools 


63^ 883 








Total 


477 


1,464 


2,757 


1,091 


30,654 


3,504 


2,138,158 





Different courses given in the technical schools. 





Institutions giving— 


Technical subjects. 


Institutions giving — 


Technical subjects. 


(A) Ad- 
vanced 
course. 


(B) Ele- 
mentary 
course. 


Women's 
voca- 
tional 
course. 


(A) Ad- 
vanced 
course. 


(B) Ele- 
mentary 
course. 


Women's 
voca- 
tional 

course. 


Agriculture 


39 

18 
30 


131 




Electrical engineer- 


1 

8 
6 
2 

1 
1 
1 






Forestry 






Sericulture 


117 


2 
1 


Applied chemistry. 
Mineralogy 






Bilk-producing 






work 






Fishery 


3 
3 

1 










Manufactiu'e 












Veterinary 












Cotton picking 




1 
6 


Tapestry 




1 


Fabric dyeing 


ii 

1 
1 


27 


Pottery 


1 
1 


1 




Dyeing 


Pottery painting... 


11 


Carpentry 


5 
1 






9 


Rattan works 




Sewing 


:::::: :i: 


4 


Rattan and bam- 




7 
1 




Tailoring 




4 


boo works 


Imitation flower 




1 


Varnishine 






Braiding 


;::;:::;;:i:;:::::::: 


1 


M'heel works 




1 




Lace making 


1 . . . 


1 


Hand labor 




1 


Hair netting 






1 


Civil eni,'iueeriug.. . 


8 
9 

2 
1 




Fine arts 






1 


Goldsmithry 






Commerce 


27 


70 




Dynamic electric- 
ity 






Total 




176 


361 


44 


Current electricity . 















5. COLLEGES AND VNIVEKSITIES. 

The college is divided into preparatory, collegia!, and post-graduate depart- 
ments, in which courses on political science, law, medicine, agriculture, tech- 
nique, commerce, fine arts, music, foreign languages, and the like are given. 
The preparatory course is for one year, the college course covers three years, and 
the post-graduate course requires two years. Graduates from the middle school 
or students of equivalent scholarship are allowed to enter the preparatory 
department after passing the necessary examinations. The preparatory depart- 
ment of a university covers a period of two years and the college department a 
period of four years. 



72 



MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA. 
Higher educational institutions. 



Institutions. 


Schools. 


Courses. 


Stu- 
dents. 


Admin- 
istra- 
tive 

officers. 


Teach- 
ers. 


Ex- 
penses. 


Universities: 

Government . . . 

Private 

Colleges of law: 
Government . . . 

Public ... 


3 
3 

1 

20 
13 

1 
6 

1 
8 

1 
4 
1 

1 
4 
3 

4 


Preparatory, arts, science, engineering, 
and law. 

University : Preparatory, arts, law, com- 
merce. College: Preparatory, law, 
politics, economics, and commerce. 

Preparatory, law, economics, political 

economies. 
Preparatory, law, economics, politics, 

and commerce. 
Preparatory, law, politics, economics, 

and commerce. 

Preparatory, agriculture, and forestry.. 
Preparatory, agriculture, forestry, silk- 
worm, arid sericulture. 

Preparatory, mechanics, electric engi- 
neering, and applied chemistry. 

Preparatory, civil engineering, dyna- 
mics, applied chemistry, mining, and 
dyeing. 

Preparatory and commerce 


2,811 
1,893 

622 
3,573 
2,121 

171 
568 

242 
1,037 

134 
266 
41 

174 
391 
211 

605 


67 
15 

20 
363 
93 

18 
80 

18 
130 

14 
34 

8 

46 
59 
24 

33 


207 
150 

5 
459 

202 

21 
129 

39 
214 

25 
90 
24 

22 
48 
56 

67 


$870,000 
74, 165 

101,500 
549 452 


Private 

Colleges of agricul- 
ture: 
Government... 
Public . . 


36,870 

91,200 
262,300 

126,036 
606,072 


Technical colleges: 
Government . . . 

Public 


Colleges of com- 
merce: 
Government . . . 


42, 168 


Public 


Preparatory, commerce, and banking.. 
Commerce 


98,703 


Private 


9,500 


Medical colleges: 
Government 


Medicine. . . . 


103,000 
146, 886 


Public 




Private 


Preparatory and medicine 


215, 000 


Foreign language 
college: 
Public ... 


Preparatory, English, Japanese, Ger- 
man, and Russian. 


102, 340 


College: 




3 


Preparatory, spinning, civil engineer- 
ing, mechanics, medical, and engi- 
neering. 

Total 


290 


36 


76 


135, 468 






16, 150 


1,058 


1,834 


3,570,984 







6. SOCI.VL EDUCATION. 

The Ministry of Education lias appointed special officials to develop social 
education. Plans for the promotion of social education liave been receiving- 
much attenti()n from the ministry, but owing to the unsettled condition of the 
country the program can not be fully carried out as expected. The following is 
a list of the institutions already established for the promotion of social educaiion : 

Libraries 175 

Elementary librarie.s 287 

Moving libraries 257 

Elementary lecture institutions 2, 129 

Open-air lecture institutions 659 

Newspaper reading office 1,727 

Mu.seums 10 

Schools for backward students 81 

Half-day schools for poor and destitute 1,242 

Open-air schools 37 

Elementary reading schools 4, 593 

Peking, March 15, lf>19. 

o 



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020 975 108 2 



